Look Alive, Sunshine
by a-whisper-to-a-riot
Summary: Johnny is surprised by Natasha's sudden drastic change from stuck up cheerleader to quiet bookworm. As he gets to know her better, he finds out more about her family's tragic accident, and he learns of Natasha's internal struggles. Johnny/OC
1. New Friends

**Bully**

_**Look Alive Sunshine**_

_**Chapter One: New Friends**_

* * *

"_Look it's Natasha."_

"_She's sitting on her own again."_

"_Forget about her."_

"_But Mandy, shouldn't we ask her to-."_

"_I said, forget her."_

Natasha looked up from her book with a sigh. It was nearly impossible to find a quiet spot in Bullworth, and when she actually does Mandy has to come along. She eyed the cheerleaders whispering amongst themselves and looked back down at her book. The last thing she wanted was to speak with them.

After flicking the page ever, she realized that she didn't even read the page before. With a groan, she flipped the page back and glared at the page, determined to digest the words.

"_Oh my god, I can't believe Ted actually went out with her."_

"_Well she was the head cheerleader before you."_

"_Everyone knows that she got that position because of her brothers."_

That was it.

Natasha slammed her book shut and stood up. Insulting her was tolerable – she could care less about what Mandy Wiles thought of her, but bringing her brothers into this was something else entirely. Mandy immediately quieted down. Natasha made her way down the bleachers and gave the cheerleaders a cold look.

Natasha was so focused on the girls that she hadn't realized she had walked into someone. She walked into a rather muscular chest causing her to drop her book. Mandy giggled from behind her.

"I'm so sorry…" Natasha murmured, picking up the book.

She looked up and frowned.

"Ah- it's alright," Ted nodded back awkwardly.

Natasha gave him a stern glare and pushed past him, and straight into another chest. Large hands grasped her arms and shook her slightly.

"You should watch where you're walking Nat," Ben chuckled.

"Yeah well you should-," Natasha couldn't think of a snide comment. "Yeah."

"You don't look so good," Ben noted. "What happened?"

"It's nothing," Natasha shrugged. "Mandy was just talking trash... she mentioned Matt."

Ben's features turned frigid. He looked past Natasha's shoulder and saw Mandy clutching onto Ted's arm.

"Just ignore her," Ben patted her shoulder. "She has no idea what she's talking about."

"I know… but it still pisses me off, you know?" Natasha frowned. "I should go, I got bio next and I doubt my lab partner is showing up."

"Okay, take care yeah?" Ben called after her.

"Yeah," she waved back.

XoXo

As she has predicted, the seat next to her was once again empty. Like it has been for the last three months. Occasionally Natasha would wonder where the bearer of the seat would wander off to during class hours, perhaps he just stays in New Conventry the whole day.

"Ah!" Dr. Slawter's voice rose.

Natasha looked up from her note-taking and immediately understood Dr. Slawter's tone of surprise. Standing by the door were a pair of roughed up looking boys.

"Nice of you to finally join us in class, Mr. Vincent, Mr. Romano," Dr. Slawter greeted the two. "Hurry to your seats."

Natasha looked down before her and Johnny could make eye contact. She went back to taking notes for the next dissection. The creak of the stool next to hers indicated Johnny has sat down.

"Hello Johnny," she acknowledged.

"Hey," he slumped onto his desk right away. "What are we doin'?"

"Another dissection," Natasha replied.

"Again?" he groaned.

"Please Johnny," she rolled her eyes. "You weren't even here for half of it."

"Look who's getting all smart, little miss cheerleader," he sat up.

Johnny froze on spot. The redheaded girl wasn't as he had remembered. The last time he saw her, Natasha was in her bright little cheerleading skirt and her hair tied high up in a strict ponytail. Where as today, she actually looked like a normal person. Her fiery red curls were let down, she wore the proper uniform and lastly, she had glasses on. Not once has she ever mentioned bad eyesight, he didn't even know she needed glasses!

Natasha perked an eyebrow at him smugly.

"Johnny Vincent, I don't know what rock you've been living under for the last couple of months," she turned her attention back to her notes. "But I am obviously not a cheerleader anymore."

"Why the sudden change?" he asked.

"… You really don't know?" she stared at him evenly.

"No," he shrugged. "I guess I really have been living under a rock."

Natasha chuckled slightly at his comment, but her smile dropped shortly after. Johnny noticed and realized it was something unfortunate.

"You know what?" she mumbled. "I'll tell you sometime later when we're not learning how to cut dead animals open."

"Sounds good," he chuckled.

"What about you?" she asked. "How'd you get caught?"

"… Cops were in New Coventry on some drug bust," he shrugged back. "Peanut and me were walking down the street when they caught us."

"Oh," Natasha nodded understandingly. "Well what about Lola? The last time you showed up to class, you were rambling on and on about her."

"Yeah… Lola," he sighed. "She's a nasty piece of work."

"Oh?" Natasha sounded surprised. She didn't expect him to just admit it straight out like that.

"Yeah, the slut's been cheating on me the whole time we've been together," Johnny frowned in disdain.

Natasha nodded, briefly remembering Ben talking about Lola approaching the football team couple of weeks back.

"Yeah well you know," she shrugged." Lola's a whore, and you can do better."

"You think so?" he asked.

"I know so," she nodded.

The two didn't speak much after as Dr. Slawter began his long lecture. Johnny would steal glances at her every now and then. This was a very big change, and Johnny can see himself liking this change a lot.

"Alright now each pair can start their dissection," Dr. Slawter pointed at the trays of dead rats.

Johnny shook slightly as he followed Natasha to the table. Natasha picked up a tray and Johnny picked out a scalpel, a pair tweezers, gloves and two goggles. They returned to their seat, and placed the goggles over their eyes. Johnny kept his distance with the tray and watched Natasha get to work.

"Still afraid of dead animals, Johnny?" Natasha chuckled cutting the rat open.

"No, I ain't scared!" Johnny retorted. "It's just… disgusting, that's all."

"Sure," she rolled her eyes with a smile.

Johnny squirmed slightly as she cut out the rat's heart. Natasha eyed him with a little smirk.

"It's pretty ironic how you get into bloody fights all the time but can't handle a small rat being cut up," Natasha chuckled.

"Well what about you?" Johnny asked. "Why does a little cheerleader like yourself enjoy cutting up dead animals?"

"You don't have to like it to be good at it," she nudged him slightly. "And I said, I'm not a cheerleader anymore!"

"Right, sorry," Johnny apologized with a smile.

Natasha finished the dissection in record time, and Dr. Slawter walked over to examine her handiwork.

"Excellent work as always Miss Evans," he nodded. "Mr. Vincent, I see that even when you do show up you intend to do nothing."

Johnny pursed his lips together into a fine line but said nothing. Natasha just grinned and nodded at everything Dr. Slawter said. He instructed them to read ahead into chapter twenty. Johnny disregarded what he was told and flipped through the textbook mindlessly. Natasha started reading from the top, but found Johnny's page flipping incredibly distracting.

'_The digestive system serves as an important-.'_

_**Flip-flip-flip.**_

'… _Important… Important… The digestive system serves as an-.'_

_**Flip-flip-flip.**_

Natasha gritted her teeth as she glared at his fingers running across the pages.

"You know, it'd probably help if you stopped at one page," she mumbled.

"Whatever," he stopped at a page and slumped over his book.

Natasha side-glanced him for a moment and rolled her eyes. At least he stopped.

* * *

After class, the jocks made the football pitch for practice. Ben followed Ted and Mandy. She was going on about the school dance that was two whole months away.

"Ted you better wear a nice suit," Mandy went on. "I need my date looking absolutely perfect and don't forget the-. Oh my god."

Something actually made Mandy shut up, this he had to see.

Ben looked up and frowned. Walking out of the school was her little sister with none other than Johnny Vincent. Since when did he come to school anyway? And how did they know each other? Was he the 'missing bio partner' all this time? They looked pretty friendly by the way he leaned down to listen to her and how she smiled up to him.

"I can't believe she's actually talking to him," Mandy scoffed. "Right Ted?"

"Uh- yeah," he eyed them uneasily.

"Ben, how can you let your sister hang out with a greaser?" Mandy called over her shoulder, back at Ben.

"… Mind your own business, Mandy," Ben growled back. "Natasha can do what she wants."

"Oo stingy," Mandy frowned at him. "Come on Ted, let's go."

Ben watched Natasha laugh at something Johnny said with a dismal look. The two walked towards the school gate together. Ben gave them one last look before turning to catch up with Ted and Mandy.

XoXo

"You know, I don't remember you being this funny," Natasha chuckled when they reached the school gates.

"And I don't remember you having a personality," Johnny retorted with a smirk.

"Oh shut up," she rolled her eyes. "Uh- well I guess this is goodbye."

"Where are you going? Don't you stay in the dorms?" he asked, looking back into the school.

"I have some place I got to be," she shrugged uneasily.

"Want me to drive you? My car's right there," he pointed at a beat up Cadillac convertible.

"No!" she called out. "I-I mean, it's fine, there's no need to trouble you. I'm not going far anyway, I'll talk to you soon okay? … Well that is if you show up to class from now on."

"Yeah whatever," he grinned. "Well I'll see ya, Natasha."

"Bye Johnny."

Natasha quickly turned around and walked to the bike stands, she unlocked her bike and got on. With a sigh, she began pedaling. Natasha never liked biking long distances, and Happy Volts was a long way away.

* * *

**Please review! :)**


	2. Happy Volts Asylum

**Bully**

_**Look Alive Sunshine**_

_**Chapter Two: Happy Volts Asylum**_

* * *

Natasha stopped at the large iron gates of Happy Volts. A guard noticed her waiting outside and walked over.

"What do you want kid?" he asked rudely.

"I'm Natasha Evans?" she called back. "I'm here to see Matt Evans."

"Oh right," he nodded.

He reached for his walkie-talkie and mumbled a few words through that. In not time the gates began creaking open. Natasha thanked the guard and pedaled into the premises. She left her bike outside the facility and walked in.

There were two sides of Happy Volts. Your stay could either be a happy one, or a traumatizing one. There were the prison-like cells were they kept the insanely violent ones, then there was the hospital for the unwell. Luckily for Matt, he was still considered 'unwell' by the staff, as he had broken bones and can't throw a punch to save himself.

"Hello there, Natasha," Amanda smiled when the redheaded girl walked in. "I'm glad you're here."

"Did something happen with Matt?" she asked anxiously.

"No, but he has been asking for you all day," Amanda sighed. "You should go on in."

Natasha mumbled thanks and walked down the hall. She turned left into Room 72. Matt sat wide-eyed on his bed. He looked just like Ben, they had the same shaggy sandy hair, intense blue eyes (like Natasha's) and freckled nose.

Matt's attention immediately shot over to the door, and tears began to pool in his eyes when he saw her.

"Nat, Nat," he called, reaching out in attempt to grasp her.

"I'm here Matt," she dropped her bags and climbed onto his bed.

He hugged her shakily and cried onto her shoulder. All she could do was put an arm over him and rub his back.

"I-I missed you Nat," he sniveled.

It pained Natasha to see her brother like this. Matt used to be the star quarterback on the Bullworth football team, but after the accident he could barely throw a football without straining himself too much. Him and Ben used to be called all sorts of nicknames from 'double trouble' to 'twin dynamites', Natasha used to hate all these silly nicknames regarding her twin brothers, but now she missed them more than ever.

"Nat, when's Ben coming?" Matt asked.

"Matt, I'm sorry but he's busy today," Natasha replied uneasily. "He said that he'd come when he can."

"Well fuck you too!" he yelled shoving her off the bed.

"Matt!" Natasha stood up and wobbled a few steps back, rubbing her aching rear. "I'm sorry but-."

"I fucking hate you and Ben!"

Matt picked up the glass vase sitting on the end table, and before she knew it, he had thrown it across the room directly at her. For the first time ever, she was thankful for the state Matt was in. The vase didn't get very far and shattered a few feet in front of her.

Amanda rushed in and saw the broken vase lying in front of Natasha.

"Matthew!" Amanda eyed him sternly. "This is Natasha! Your little sister! How can you do that to her?"

"Screw you!" he yelled back. "I hate you and her!"

Amanda gave him a disapproving look as she helped the younger girl up, and walked her out. She sat Natasha down on one of the waiting area's sofa and got her a glass of water.

"Thanks," Natasha was still shaking from the incident. "… Is he like that often?"

"No," Amanda shook her head. "He's really quiet most times, all he ever asks about is you and your brother. He really misses you two, you know?"

"I try getting Ben to come, I really do," she frowned. "But he never listens to me."

"Ben must be put in a tough spot as well," Amanda said. "It's his twin brother, I can't imagine how badly he's taking it."

"Is there any chance of him-."

"Nat?"

Both of them looked up simultaneously to see Matt stood by the counter, his feet bloodied from stepping over the smashed glass.

"I'm so sorry Nat," tears rolled down his face. "I didn't mean to…"

Natasha stood up and walked over to give him a hug. He still stood a head taller than her and wrapped his large arms around her.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered again.

"It's fine Matt," Natasha patted his back.

"Come on Matthew, we need to get your feet wrapped up," Amanda stepped in.

"Of coarse," he nodded looking down at his cut feet. "Will you come see me soon, Natasha?"

"I'll try to come on Sunday," she smiled back.

"What about Ben?" he asked. "Is Ben coming with you?"

"I don't know yet," she smiled wearily. "I'll try to ask him okay?"

Matt broke into a wide grin and nodded. He waved back at her as he was escorted back down the corridor to his room. Natasha let out a sigh before heading back outside.

It was obvious that Matt was getting worse each time she visited, but Natasha couldn't stand having Matt thrown into a cell. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed Ben's number.

"Hello?"

"Ben, it's me."

"Hey Nat, you know I've been meaning to ask you: Since when were you so chummy with the greasers?"

"What?" Natasha's eyebrows knit together.

"Yeah, I saw you leaving school looking pretty friendly with Johnny Vincent."

"Uh-, Johnny and I are friends."

"Yeah right, you're probably with him right now!"

"…" Natasha said nothing.

"Ah ha! I'm right aren't I? I knew it! I can't believe you'd-."

"I'm at Happy Volts."

"… Oh. How'd it go?"

"Things got pretty bad," she admitted. "Matt threw a vase at me."

"He did what?" Ben demanded. "Are you sure its safe for you to carry on seeing him?"

"I don't care if its safe or not," Natasha frowned. "Matt needs me, so I'm going to keep seeing him. He asked about you again Ben, you should come see him."

"I love Matt, you know that, he's my twin brother," Ben sounded desperate over the line. "… I've just been busy with things."

"With what? You've been deliberately avoiding coming since he regained conscious!" she raised her voice. "I don't care what you've been 'busy' with! Mum and dad are gone and Matt needs us!"

"… I-I gotta go Nat," Ben said quickly. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Ben I swear if you hang up I'll-."

The line went dead.

Ben is going to get it the next time she sees him. Natasha shoved her cellphone back into her pocket and mounted her bike.

XoXo

Pinky skipped ahead with a giggle as Derby followed after her. They were returning to school after a long date. Pinky stopped abruptly and Derby took this opportunity to regain his breath.

"Derby," she called in a hushed tone. "Isn't that Natasha Evans?"

Derby looked over at where Pinky was pointing at and sure enough the redheaded girl was on her bike.

"What about it?" Derby asked.

"She just came out of that road," she pointed at a rocky path with mischief. "Doesn't that lead to the asylum?"

"Are you saying that-."

"She's insane! Maybe that's why she's stopped cheerleading!" Pinky gushed. "Oh my god, I can't wait to tell Mandy!"

Before Derby can reply, Pinky had already pulled out her phone and began typing furiously while walking ahead once again. With a sigh Derby walked after her, eyeing Natasha one more time. It was shame that she was crazy, he always thought she was cute.

XoXo

Natasha returned to the dorm that evening feeling rather sick, people were whispering as soon as she got in. She doubts it was anything important, in fact it was probably the Johnny thing. If her brother noticed then surely rest of the school has as well.

She made her way slowly up the stairs and entered her room. She dumped her things on the ground and quickly stripped her clothes off. Since moving out of Mandy's room, Natasha learned that it was a lot easier being in a room alone. They wouldn't have to argue over missing scrunchies, or worry about having a boy over. Though know she wouldn't exactly have any problem with boys as they all see her as an outcast now.

Natasha smiled faintly remembering the time when Mandy caught her and Ted making out under the covers. Her face was priceless, and when she ran out screaming, successfully waking up the whole dorm. Ted ran for it, in just his boxers. It was hilarious seeing all the little kids scream and cover their eyes.

She sighed and crawled under her sheets. After the day's events, she could really use a good night's rest.

* * *

The next morning, Natasha woke up early and took a nice long shower before she had to leave for classes. She got dressed and gathered her books for the day. She walked out of the girls' dorm and froze on the spot. This was very strange. Everyone was staring at her. It couldn't be the Johnny thing. There must be another reason for them to all be looking at her like that.

"Hey look, it's the crazy girl!" the, oh so familiar voice chirped.

Natasha turned around and glared at Mandy.

"Excuse me?" Natasha hissed.

"Don't play dumb, Natasha," Mandy rolled her eyes. "Everyone knows about you leaving Happy Volts yesterday."

_**Slap!**_

Mandy gasped as she held her reddened cheek. Natasha gave the girl one last glance before turning away.

* * *

**Please review! :)**


	3. Fred the Mighty Bear

**Bully**

_**Look Alive Sunshine**_

_**Chapter Three: Fred the Mighty Bear**_

* * *

Natasha sighed as she walked down the emptied corridor. For the whole day, students have been avoiding her like the plague. Sure there was the rumor about Happy Volts but then she has also been hearing some stupid things.

"_I heard she beat up Mandy."_

"_She probably hangs out with Gary Smith."_

"_I heard she's part of some cult."_

This was getting ridiculous. She slapped Mandy, not beat her to a pulp. She's never spoken to Gary Smith and she was most definitely not in a cult.

Natasha dropped her textbooks off in her room and got changed into a nice pair of dark denim and a white cotton tank top. She grabbed her everyday bag and stuffed in a book and her cardigan.

After leaving the safety of her room, she literally ran off the campus and got on her bike. Just being around those people made her feel uncomfortable. Not only did they not speak with her, but now they all eye her as if she's a psycho.

At the gates, she turned left and pedaled down the bridge. She stuck on the main road and parked her bike on the concrete pavement just above the beach. One thing she knew about Bullsworth, rich kids didn't like to get their hands dirty at the beach, jocks and nerds almost always stay on school grounds, the greasers don't usually come out further enough past New Coventry, and the adults were… well adults. They don't have time for the beach.

Natasha propped herself down on the soft sand and pulled out her book. Not knowing that this tranquility would not last long.

* * *

In the abandoned tenements in New Coventry, Johnny Vincent was watching Lefty and Peanut argue over who ate the last slice of pizza. Frankly Johnny couldn't care less, it was pizza from a week ago anyway. Johnny grew tired of their bickering and stood up, he pulled his leather jacket on and headed downstairs.

"You going out Johnny?" Peanut called after him.

"Yeah," Johnny grunted back.

"Get us some pizza will ya?" Lefty asked.

"Do I look like your fucking maid?" Johnny glared at them over his shoulder. "Just get it ordered!"

If it wasn't obvious already, Johnny was in a terrible mood. Earlier today he had found one of Lola's old skirts lying around, and he's been yelling at everyone ever since. If Johnny weren't so damn scary when he's upset, Lefty and Peanut would have told him to grow up and get over it.

Johnny hopped into his car, and turned the ignition on. He really needed a quick drive, even if it was just to the carnival and back. The sea was now in view, the cool ocean breeze calmed Johnny down a little as he drove along the road. The bliss feeling didn't last long though, down on the beach, he saw Derby and Bif towering over a person sitting on the sand. On closer inspection, as he drove closer, he could clearly see red hair. Not thinking twice, Johnny drove onto the pavement and parked his car.

* * *

"I heard you knocked out one of Mandy's teeth today," Bif snickered with a cross of his arms.

"Oh did you?" Natasha closed her book. "Would you like me to do the same with yours?"

"I like tough girls," Bif eyed her down.

"I'm sure you do," she rolled her eyes.

Derby snorted next to Bif.

"You know you shouldn't be that stuck up now that your reputation is down the gutter and Thompson couldn't care less about you," Bif scowled, bending down to her eye-level. "Who knows? I just might be the last guy to show any-."

"Taylor, you better stand up and get back."

Natasha recognized his voice immediately. She turned around and saw Johnny trudge down the beach, stopping at a good distance from them.

"What the hell do you want, Vincent?" Bif didn't move an inch. "This is between me and her."

"She's clearly not interested in you," Johnny scoffed. "So why don't you stand up and leave."

"Why don't you stop sticking your nose into other people's business?" Derby spoke up.

"Instead of worrying about others, you should worry about yourself. That whore of yours have been staying in the Harrington house with Gord," Bif made a look of disgust. "She's been stinking up the whole place."

Johnny took a step forward threateningly.

"Okay, that's enough," Natasha stood up, gathering her belongings. "Come on Johnny, let's go. We don't need this."

"What's the matter?" Bif yelled after them. "Running away?"

It took every bit of her strength to hold onto Johnny's arm, stopping him from running back to the two preps. The two boys laughed and made their way back to the beach house.

Natasha sat next to Johnny on a bench as he pulled out a box of cigarettes and stuck one in his mouth. He lifted the box her way, offering her one but she declined with a shake of her head. With a shrug he put the box away and lit the cigarette.

"You all right?" she asked.

"Been better," he sighed. "What about you? What did Taylor and Harrington want with you?"

"Uh… it's kind of a long story," Natasha rubbed the back of her neck.

"Yeah? Well I got time," he shrugged.

"Well um… back when Ted and I were still going out," Natasha recalled. "Bif had asked me to go out with him continuously even after I rejected him. So now that Ted and I are broken up, he's asked me again."

"Guy can't take a hint huh?" Johnny took a whiff. "What did happen to you and Thompson?"

"Well after I quit the cheerleading squad, Mandy came along and became head cheerleader," Natasha leaned back on the bench. "And she kind of told Ted I was unfit to be with him and that he deserved better."

"So he just listened to her?" he half-smiled.

"Yeah…" Natasha chuckled. "I mean, come on its Ted. He's not exactly the brightest guy."

"Yeah well Thompson's an idiot for dumping you," Johnny put out his cigarette. "You wanna go do something?"

"What do you have in mind?" she asked.

"Carnival?" he suggested. "I was heading there anyway."

"You were going to the carnival by yourself?" she eyed him strangely.

"Needed a drive," he shrugged. "Let's go then."

"Oh I have my bike with me…" she pointed at the parked vehicle.

"Just dump it in my trunk," he walked over to his car.

Natasha retrieved her bike and walked it over to Johnny's car, he picked it up and stuffed it into his messy trunk. Natasha sat herself in the passenger seat of the car and waited for him to start driving.

Johnny was being a lot colder than usual, but it couldn't be just Bif and Derby. He had said he needed a drive, perhaps something happened earlier before they met up. Bif mentioned Lola as well, that's clever on his part. Everyone knew that the one thing that gets Johnny the most agitated: Lola, even before they broke up Johnny would get mad when someone as so much as spoke her name.

The drive wasn't long; after all it was only through the tunnel from the beach. The sun was just setting as Johnny parked the car outside the gates, and the two walked to the box office. Ignoring Natasha's protests, Johnny paid for both of their tickets.

Natasha's only ever been to the carnival twice, once with Ted, and the second time with her brothers two weeks before the accident. She smiled when she remembered her brothers' determination to win her a prize but ended up with tickets enough for a worn out oversized sweatshirt. Needless to say, they weren't very good at the carnival games.

"What are you grinning about?" Johnny asked, nudging her slightly.

Natasha noticed that being in the carnival seemed to liven Johnny's spirits, even if it was just by a bit.

"I was thinking about the last time I was here," she replied.

"Who were you with?" he asked.

"Ben and Matt."

His composure changed noticeably. Natasha eyed him strangely.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I asked Lefty and Ricky about you," he stuck his hand in his pockets. "And I'm sorry about your parents. I didn't know they died."

"Oh," she nodded. "… Yeah thanks."

"And Matt," Johnny went on. "He was a real nice guy, the most tolerable out of the jocks. I hope he's doin' alright."

"Yeah," Natasha forced a smile. "He's hospitalized in New York at the moment, my aunt is watching after him."

She didn't like lying, and especially not to Johnny. He was her only friend at the moment and it'd suck if she lost him too.

"Well, I'm sure he'll be better in no time," he reassured her with a pat on her back.

'_I only hope so.'_

"By the way, what happened when you came with them?"

"Huh?" she looked up, having completely missed his question.

"What happened when you came to the carnival with Matt and Ben?" he repeated. "You were smiling about it just now."

"Oh," she chuckled. "Well we were here for my birthday and they forgot to buy me a present, so instead they decided to win me one."

"What did they win you?" he asked.

"… Surprisingly they weren't very good at the games…" Natasha laughed awkwardly. "So I ended up with some old souvenir shirt that was a few sizes too big for me."

Johnny laughed. This was the first time she heard him laugh for real. They would always exchange snide comments and small chuckles, but this was the first time he laughed in front of her.

"I would expect them to be able to win you the most expensive prize or something," Johnny rubbed the back of his head. "I bet I can win you something better than a baggy old sweatshirt."

"Yeah? Well it's harder than it looks," Natasha insisted. "Even Ted couldn't win me anything when we were here."

"I thought we already established that Ted is a dumbass?" Johnny retorted. "You jocks are only good at doing one thing and that's football, but us greasers are different. We're good at everything we do."

"All right, Mr. I'm-good-at-everything," Natasha rolled her eyes. "Let's see you win me a stuffed bear."

"Please," he scoffed. "I'll win you the biggest stuffed bear!"

"Alright then," she crossed her arms.

XoXo

Johnny actually did it. It didn't take very long either. He just played a few games, won all of them and collected dozens of tickets. Who knew Johnny Vincent could throw a good pitch?

Natasha watched in awe when he stepped out of the prize tent with a large stuffed bear, it was so big that Johnny had to carry it on his back. He hurled it over his shoulder and into her arms, she stumbled back slightly at the impact.

"Too big?" he laughed.

"Just a bit, don't you think?" she chuckled. "I really don't see myself carrying this back to my dorm."

"Oi, I worked hard for him," Johnny poked the bear's nose. "So you take good care of him okay?"

Natasha snorted, and covered her mouth with her hand. Johnny Vincent had just referred to a stuffed bear as 'him', and told her to take care of 'him'. He eyed her questioningly, and she just nodded back rapidly.

"What do you want to do now?" he asked. "We can go on some rides, I guess."

"With Mr. Snuggles? I don't think he'd fit into any of the rides," Natasha held the bear closer.

"Mr. Snuggles?" Johnny repeated in distaste. "You couldn't come up with a better name?"

"Well, what do you want to name him?" she shot back.

"What about, Fred the mighty bear?" he suggested.

"How about no," she shook her head. "Can you take Mr. Snuggles to your car before we go to the rides?"

"Fine then," he lifted the bear out of her hands. "Let's go _Fred_."

"It's Mr. Snuggles!" she called after him.

Who would have guessed that she'd be arguing with Johnny Vincent over a stuffed bear's name, he really was a lot more different than she had thought. At least he seems to be less informed out of everyone she knew, he didn't even know about her parents' accident. He was exactly what she needed right now, somehow to not judge her over rumors and perhaps someone to fend Bif off.

Johnny returned not long after and the two set out deeper into the carnival. The two of them went on the Big Squid once and the rollercoaster twice. Although Johnny was better at games than the jocks were, he wasn't as tolerant with rides.

After stepping off the rollercoaster, Johnny insisted on going on the Ferris wheel instead of going on the coaster again.

"You all right? You look kind of pale. Are you sure you're not going to throw up?" she asked, her voice sounding incredibly mocking. "The Ferris wheel too much for you?"

"Oh shut up," Johnny nudged her playfully on the side. "I'm alright on the Ferris wheel. I've never seen someone ride those fast rides so many times in a row."

"What can I say?" she laughed. "I like going fast."

"I'm sure you do," he smirked.

"… Did you just make an inappropriate remark?" she asked coyly.

"Your fault for saying it," he chuckled. "… This is nice. I can't remember the last time I just sat down and watched the stars."

"Yeah…" she agreed. "I haven't been on the Ferris wheel before, it's better than I thought it'd be."

"Why? Thought it would be too slow for you?" he grinned.

"Oh shut up," she stuck her tongue out. "Quit teasing me."

XoXo

In total, Johnny and Natasha stayed on the Ferris wheel for four goes. When they asked to stay on for the fifth time, they were asked to leave as the carnival was closing. Natasha hadn't even noticed that it was so late already.

They were one of the last few people in the carnival. The two left and headed back to Johnny's car. Natasha grinned when she saw Mr. Snuggles strapped down onto the backseat.

"That was fun," she smiled.

"It was," he nodded in agreement, starting the ignition. "You're not too bad, Evans."

"And you're not so terrible either, Johnny," she retorted.

The car came to a halt in front of the school gate, he unstrapped the stuffed bear for her and she picked him up happily. Johnny helped place her bike down on the pavement, and held onto Mr. Snuggles (or Fred, he insisted) while she locked her bike in place.

"Can we do this again sometime?" she asked as he got back into the car.

"Yeah," he nodded.

"Take care then," she smiled.

Natasha turned to leave but when she didn't hear him drive off, she turned back around.

"If Taylor or Harrington ever give you trouble again, you tell me alright?" he said.

"Why? You going to beat them to a pulp for me?" she chuckled.

"Yes."

Natasha was about to laugh, but then realized that he was dead serious. She nodded back with a sheepish smile.

"Alright," he smiled. "Goodnight then."

"Night."

* * *

**Please review!**

**Thank you **forgetmenotflowers** for adding this story to your favorites! :)**

**Special thanks:**

lazy4ever– Thank you for reviewing! I want them to slowly become friends but I'm going to find some creative way for them to get to know each other :D


	4. My Couch, My Rules

**Bully**

_**Look Alive Sunshine**_

_**Chapter Four: My Couch, My Rules**_

* * *

The next morning, Natasha was yawning when she walked out of the girls' dorm. It was midnight by the time she got in last night, and she fell right to sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. It'd taken every little bit of her willpower to get herself out of bed earlier this morning, and even more to go take a shower and get dressed.

First period was art, which probably meant Johnny was not coming in. Natasha was starting to wonder why she was bothering to go to class. Art wasn't an important part of the curriculum and to be frank, she was terrible at it, she could've be using this precious time doing something important – like napping behind the bleachers.

Sleep had more priority than art class at the moment. Natasha made a turn and headed towards the bleachers. If she were to sneak past the gym undetected, then she shouldn't have any more trouble. The prefects normally don't go as far out to the pitch.

Luckily for her, she was able to slip past Seth Kobe while he was chasing after a tardy student. The pitch was relatively empty apart from the gym class out running laps for Mr. Burton, though the teacher himself was nowhere in sight. No doubt off reading an inappropriate magazine in his office. Her brothers had warned her to steer clear from their football coach, and Natasha plans to follow after by her brothers' words.

Natasha walked down the familiar steps leading to the football pitch, it gave her a nostalgic feeling. It was only two months ago that she walked down these same steps in her bright blue cheerleading outfit, and with Ted's hand entwined with hers. It was strange how drastically things can change within a few mere weeks.

Leaning on the wooden frame, Natasha settled herself down behind the bleachers.

XoXo

"Mr. Vincent, this is certainly nice a surprise," Ms. Philips crossed her arms with an approving smile.

"Uh yeah," Johnny nodded, taking his seat.

After Ms. Philips instructed the class and they were sent to do their work, Johnny got a good look around class. Natasha wasn't here. He had only come in hoping he'd see her, so much for that plan.

Last night, like every other night, Johnny was unable to sleep. For the whole night he had someone on his mind, but instead of the brunette he thought about almost every night before, he was thinking about a certain redhead. A certain redhead that was not in class right now.

Johnny sighed. Even if she weren't here, perhaps this was for the best. Maybe his grades will start improving.

'_Yeah right, by showing up to art,' _he rolled his eyes at the thought.

XoXo

The bell woke Natasha up at lunch. The pitch was noticeably louder than before, which means that the football team was doing their drills. Natasha picked up her bag and emerged from her hiding spot, and sure enough Ben was down on the pitch running lengths.

She climbed up a couple of steps and sat down. Since quitting the squad, Natasha hadn't really had a chance to come by and watch the boys practice like she used to. Though back then there would be an extra person on the pitch running, and Ted would look up and smile at her every now and then.

Natasha shook the thought out of her head, if she started thinking like that again then she's just going to be upset again.

"Hey ditcher."

Johnny's familiar voice called over, he walked up the bleachers to where she was and sat next to her.

"So the only time I decide to show up to class, you don't?" he chuckled briefly.

"You actually went to art?" she scoffed. "I mean, I'm proud of you and everything but _art_? Really?"

"Well what did you do instead of _art_?" he asked, imitating her.

"I slept," she ran a hand through her red locks. "I was so tired."

"You want to skip maths?" he asked.

"And do what?" she glanced at him.

"We can hang out at the tenements," he suggested.

"Aren't your friends there?" she asked.

"Yeah, so?" he looked at her strangely.

"Do you know how intimidating those guys are?" she groaned slightly. "I walked into Ricky once, and I almost fell back from the impact. All I could do was mumble a sorry and run away."

"Well that's just you being weird, they're fine," he retorted. "Want to come or not?"

"… Yeah sure," she sighed, grabbing her things. "Let's go."

XoXo

"Hey Evans," Casey panted as he caught up to Ben.

"What?" Ben puffed, looking over at him briefly.

"You see that?" Casey lifted his chin up in the direction of the bleachers. "Isn't that Natasha leaving with Johnny Vincent? Are they going out now?"

Ben snapped his attention up, and as Casey had said, Natasha and Johnny were chatting while making their way down the bleachers. His thoughts briefly flashed to when he saw them walk out of school together.

This was all getting very strange. After the accident and quitting the squad, Natasha had been very detached from everyone – even him. Why is she starting to warm up to Johnny Vincent out of all people? Just what is going on between them?

"Oi, Ben," Casey called.

"My sister can do what she likes," Ben replied. "Even if she is dating a greaser."

"That's a shame," Casey sighed. "I always thought she was cute."

Ben shot him a stern glare, and Casey shut his mouth immediately. Ben may have been acting as if it weren't a big deal, but he's been dying to get a chance to speak to his sister – about Johnny, about the rumors, and about their brother.

* * *

"So this is where you hang out?"

Natasha eyed the worn out building warily. Johnny opened the door for her and she walked in cautiously. The floorboards creaked as she stepped in, and ahead she could see holes in the ground.

"Is it safe to be here?" she asked.

"Not exactly," he chuckled back.

"Is this like a guy thing?" she sighed. "I mean I grew up with two older brothers, and they're always going on about the 'danger' and the 'excitement' and saying, 'Natasha, don't be such a girl, it'll be fun!'"

"What?" Johnny directed her through a door. "But you are a girl."

"Precisely," she raised her voice slightly.

Johnny laughed as they walked up the stairs, then he stopped abruptly causing Natasha to walk into his back.

"What?" she groaned, rubbing her nose.

"Quiet," he whispered.

"_I already told you, he's at school."_

"_Johnny? At school? Please. I dated him? Johnny does not go to school. If you were going to lie, then come up with a better one."_

"_No, I'm serious Lola, you gotta leave."_

"_Hear that? That's him coming up the stairs! And you told me he wasn't in."_

"_Well now that he's back he wouldn't want to see you anyway."_

"_Don't be ridiculous, Pucino. My Johnny loves me, he's always happy to see me."_

Johnny pushed Natasha behind his larger frame as someone approached the staircase, that someone being no other than Lola Lombardi. Natasha felt herself heat up at their close proximity. And at Lola's crude remarks.

"Oh Johnny," she cooed, tapping him on the chest. "I've missed you so much."

"Get out of here Lola," Johnny hissed, swatting her hand away. "Ricky's right, I don't wanna see you."

"Oh? What's the matter?" Lola smirked. "Didn't you miss me too, Johnny baby?"

"I will not ask you again," Johnny eyed her evenly. "Go now."

"Fine," she scoffed. "Your loss."

Johnny turned (still keeping Natasha hidden behind him), while Lola walked by. Eventually the clicking of Lola's heels grew faint, and Johnny let Natasha go.

"I can't believe you actually went out with her," she straightened out her crinkled cardigan. "And thanks for almost breaking my nose back there."

"You should be glad she didn't see you," Johnny rubbed his forehead. "She'd freak out."

"_One more thing!"_

The stairs began creaking again as the familiar clicking returned. Before the two could do anything, Lola emerged from the shadows.

"If you see a skirt somewhere in this dump, can you return-."

Lola's words ceased at the sight of the redhead, she placed a hand on her hip and smirked.

"Look who we have here," she eyed her peculiarly. "Natasha Evans. I thought you were locked up in Happy Volts. What are you doing here with _my _man?"

"I'm not really sure what's going on with you and Johnny but what I do know is he's not interested in you anymore," Natasha spoke up, remembering when Johnny stood up for her with Bif.

"And what? Lola stepped forward. "Is he interested in you now?"

Natasha said nothing but looked at Johnny, he licked his dry lips and looked between the two girls. Lola glared at him expectantly.

"Lola, leave."

"You know Johnny, I expected better from you," Lola turned away. "She's a downgrade."

"Well I certainly think she's a large improvement from the last whore," Ricky walked in and crossed his arms.

"Because you boys are the best judge of character," she jeered. "Whatever, I'm out."

Lola took her time down the stairs, savoring each step knowing that the lot upstairs are anxiously waiting for her to be gone. Ricky unfolded his arms and sighed.

"I already told her she had no business here," Ricky shook his head.

"Some people just can't take a hint huh?" Natasha turned to face him.

"I'm Ricky," he stuck his hand out.

"I know," she half-smiled. "I'm Natasha."

"Yeah, I know," he smiled back.

"Where's everyone else?" Johnny asked.

"Uh, Lefty just finished working on his bike, so most of the guys are down at the auto-shop," Ricky replied. "I was actually just about to leave before Lola showed up."

"You can go, we're fine," Johnny nodded.

"Alright then," Ricky grinned. "It's nice meetin' ya Natasha."

"You too," she smiled back politely.

Ricky went his way and left the two. Natasha followed Johnny into one of the rooms, and surprisingly enough it wasn't as bad as the rest of the place. The room was considerably well kept to an extent and there appeared to be a small functioning kitchen and television set.

Johnny pointed over at one of the sofas and she nodded, walking over and taking the seat. Johnny opened the fridge and examined the contents.

"Beer?" he called.

"In the middle of the day?" she chuckled.

"Why not?" he smirked back at her.

"Touché, bring me one," she bit back a laugh.

"I got an idea, come with me," Johnny grabbed two bottles from the fridge.

Natasha watched him walk towards the door skeptically but followed after anyway. Johnny directed them up the stairs, he snapped the cap off easily off a bottle as he walked and passed it over to her.

"Where are we going?" she asked, taking a sip.

"Roof," he replied as they reached the last floor.

Johnny pushed the rusty door open with his foot and let Natasha in first. Now Natasha understood why this was a better choice than stuffy room. There was a slightly torn up sofa and a coffee table set up on the roof. It looked like it was a regular hang out for the greasers judging from the footprints on the glass table and the stains on the sofa.

Natasha sat down and propped her feet on the table. She leaned back and watched the clouds roll in the sky. Taking off her cardigan, the warmth from the sun left a tingling sensation on her skin. After a couple of seconds she heard a creak next to her. She looked over and saw that Johnny had taken his jacket and sweater off, now he was wearing his white Bullsworth button up with his sleeves rolled up.

"You know, this isn't so bad," she sighed, stretching her legs out. "Now I understand why you don't show up to class."

"Yeah?" he chuckled. "Well you ain't that bad company."

"You too," she hummed, closing her eyes and basking under the sun.

"Can I ask you something?" he spoke up after moments of silence.

"What?" she opened her eyes and turned his way.

"Is it true that you were at Happy Volts?" he eyed her steadily, completely serious.

"… Do you believe it?" she frowned slightly.

"I did't really wanna judge without talking to you," he replied.

"Oh… well that's… nice of you," she tried her best to sound sincere. "And yes, I was at Happy Volts."

"How'd you get out?" Johnny suddenly sounded anxious. "I got locked up in there once, if it weren't for Hopkins I'd probably still be in there."

"Wait-, what?" Natasha exclaimed. "How did you get put in Happy Volts?"

"Don't remember much," Johnny shrugged. "I guess I just kinda woke up in a cell."

"How did you get out?" she took a sip from her almost forgotten beer.

"Uh well, Hopkins kinda showed up outta the blues and override the systems or somethin'," Johnny shook his head briefly. "That place was scary as hell, why were you there anyway?"

"I was visiting," she snapped.

"Who?"

"A friend," she replied almost too quickly.

"Who?" he narrowed his gaze at her.

"… Look I really don't want to talk about it," she sighed. "Can we just… drop it?"

"Yeah okay," he nodded. "That's cool… sorry if I pushed it."

"No, it's fine," she forced a smile.

Johnny lied back onto the sofa and stretched his arms out with a yawn. His arm landed right around Natasha's shoulder. She looked over at the fingers playing with her red curls.

"Johnny?"

"Hm?"

"That was the lamest move ever," she chuckled, covering her lips with the back of her fingers.

"Oh, shut up you," he laughed pulling her into his chest.

Natasha smiled as she rested on Johnny's chest. She'd known through the cheerleading girls that he had a fit body but _wow_. The thin fabric of his blouse made the outlines of his muscles of his abdomen obvious. Natasha would dare say that he could rival with Ted. That leather jacket of his had done an excellent job of hiding his toned build from her this whole time they've been together.

"You're being quiet," he said. "That's weird, say something."

"I'm just thinking," she replied.

"About?"

"Abs."

"Uh what?"

"Nothing," she mumbled quickly. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you like me?"

"Sure."

"As a friend?"

"Yeah."

"As more than a friend?"

"Well do you like me as more than a friend?"

"You can't do that," she lifted herself off his chest.

"Do what?" he asked, looking her in the eye.

"Answer a question with a question," she inched in closer.

"My couch, my rules," he smirked.

"So you're just gonna answer my questions with questions now?" she leaned back down with a frown.

"Does that piss you off?" his smirk grew wider.

"Just a little," she elbowed him lightly.

"How about this. If you answer my question, I'll answer yours."

Natasha felt like a primary school kid again, why did he have to make her say it first? It's never been this difficult for her before. She bit her bottom lip uneasily and looked him in the eye.

"Okay, so I kinda like you…" she said quietly.

"What?" he asked smugly. "I didn't quite hear that. I think you need to speak up."

"I like you!" she repeated, louder this time.

Johnny laughed and nodded, his hold of her shoulder growing tighter.

"Now you have to say it too!" she whined. "Do you like me?"

This just made Johnny laugh even more, seeing her look so distressed. Johnny flicked his head to his side, facing away from her. Natasha gaped his insolence, the nerve of him! Natasha let out an annoyed groan and climbed onto his lap, her legs straddling his sides. His eyes snapped back onto her, eyeing her beadily. Well that got his attention.

"Say it," she took his face in her hands.

"Aw, don't look so serious Natasha…" he chuckled teasingly. "I like you too, alright?"

Natasha grinned as she heard those words, releasing her hold of his head. As she was about to climb off him, Johnny held her ankles down with his hands.

"What are you doing?" she eyed him mischievously.

"Now that you've made me say it, I've got to ask for something in return," he leaned forward. "Would you mind?"

"Oh? And what exactly is it that you're asking for?" she inched back from his assault.

"A kiss for my manhood?"

Johnny eyed her expectantly as Natasha licked her dry lips and leaned down, capturing his lips with hers. She was well aware of the other implications he made with that last remark and giggled into the kiss.

"What so funny?" he asked when they pulled away.

"A kiss for my manhood?" she repeated with a chuckle. "Please tell me you weren't actually expecting one."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he said, the sly grin followed after gave him away completely.

"Sure you don't."

Natasha pulled off him and sat back on the sofa, she rested her cheekbone on his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her.

"I can get used to this," he whispered.

"Likewise."

* * *

"Hey you said Johnny was here with a girl," Peanut scanned the room.

"He is! He's with Natasha," Ricky insisted, looking around as well.

"Natasha Evans? The cute cheerleader? Yeah right, as if she'd ever go for a greaser," Lucky laughed. "I've tried."

"You made us come over for of this?" Lefty sighed. "I'm going back to-."

"_Wait!"_

Vance hurried down the stairs.

"The door to the roof's open," he called.

All four boys stared at Vance as if he just spoke in Swedish. Ricky gave them all a brash smirk and ran ahead of them all. The boys raced to the last floor and slowly approached the door. They could clearly hear light conversation being held behind the door. The boys rearranged themselves so they could each have a good peek past the door.

To much disbelief, Ricky was right. Johnny was actually with a girl that was not Lola. It was Natasha Evans no less, the girl was practically married to Ted Thompson until recently. They could clearly see them talking but they were too far to hear anything. Ricky pushed the door slightly wider, not knowing that the frame was digging into Vance's foot.

"Ow!"

Johnny and Natasha stopped speaking immediately. They looked over at the door and saw four boys standing over a rather beat up looking Vance. Johnny stood up and walked a couple of steps closer.

"What are you boys doing?" Johnny demanded.

"Nothin'," Peanut said quickly.

"Vance tripped," Ricky pointed over at the boy lying on the floor.

"Yeah… yeah…"

All four boys started nodding.

Johnny glared at the four of them, ignoring Vance as he had already received a beating. Before he could yell anything more, Natasha laughed. He glanced back over at her and saw her trying to cover her mouth.

"I'm sorry," she shook her head, waving her hand. "Go on."

"I-, uh…"

'_Crap! What was I gonna say?'_

Johnny looked back over at the four boys, and they were looking back at him smugly.

"Oh get the hell outta here!" Johnny yelled.

The four boys ran immediately, dragging Vance out with them. Johnny sighed and sat back down with Natasha. This had all been majorly embarrassing.

"Sorry bout-."

"They're funny," Natasha chuckled.

"You really think so?" he asked.

Something similar had happened before to Johnny but with Lola. They caught the boys spying on them and she made a huge fuss about it, yelling, screaming and threatening that she'd leave. It wasn't a pretty sight.

"Yeah," she nodded.

Johnny smiled.

"What?" she glanced over at him. "Why are you smirking like that?"

"I just never really saw myself dating a cheerleader," he shrugged.

"Yeah, well I didn't see myself dating a greaser either," she smiled. "Before this I dated Ted, and before Ted, Juri. I guess it's hard to meet other people when we have such solid cliques."

"You dated that Russian meathead?" Johnny frowned in distaste.

"For a like two weeks…" she admitted. "He was so frustrating."

"I can imagine," he yawned.

"You tired?"

"I don't usually go to morning classes," he reminded her with a stretch his arms.

"Maybe you can start making a habit of it," she suggested, resting her head back.

"Eh."

Johnny reached over her, his lips hovering above hers. He gazed into her eyes, getting lost in the pools of blue. And she stared back at home, her lips apart with anticipation.

"I think I'm starting to fall for you," he whispered.

"Really?" she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Cuz' I've already fallen for you."

Natasha pulled him down and kissed him. His breath hitched for a moment before recovering and deepening the kiss. Johnny coiled his arms around her waist, pulling her closer. They pulled away and Natasha chuckled slightly, just as she was about to lean back down the door creaked.

More specifically the door sneezed.

Johnny turned around and glared at the door, immediately footsteps can be heard running down the stairs. He groaned and let his head drop back. A perfect moment ruined just like that. Natasha tried to suppress her laughter as Johnny looked so disappointed, but even covering her mouth a faint noise escaped her.

"I don't understand how you can be laughing," he said, looking back up at her.

"You're just upset that you got cock-blocked," she rolled her eyes, sliding off his lap and onto the sofa.

"Seriously, when did you get such a smart mouth?" Johnny chuckled.

* * *

**Okay… please tell me what everyone thought of that :P**

**Moving too quickly? Or just right? I got some plans for Johnny and Natasha's brothers so I just wanted to develop their relationship along :P**

**Special thanks to:**

forgetmenotflowers – Haha! Thank you so much for your review! It made me laugh :D and Johnny, you're so falling in love with Natasha xD

lazy4ever – I don't even :P I came up with that randomly :P I actually did a whole google research on 'badass stuffed bear names'… it didn't go that well :P Thanks for your review! :)

KikyoHayuta – I just thought I should make like a clear juxtaposition between the two cliques :P Hahah! I agree! Or maybe it's just Johnny and his weak belly :P Thank you so much for your review! :)


	5. From the Past

**Bully**

_**Look Alive, Sunshine**_

_**Chapter Five: From the Past (Flashback)**_

* * *

Natasha sighed as she watched Ted miss yet another ball. They've already spent twenty minutes at the baseball booth, and Ted was already pulling out another dollar.

"Ted, baby? You don't have to win me anything," she clutched onto his arm, keeping the dollar away from Dorsey.

"I won't lose to a stupid game!" Ted tugged his arm away from her and passed the dollar to Dorsey.

Natasha rolled her eyes with a shake of her head. He had already completely forgotten promising to win her a stuffed bear.

'_Boys…'_

_**Ping-ping-ping-ping-ping-ping.**_

Ted groaned and reached into his pocket again.

"Okay Ted, look at me," Natasha held his wrists. "That's enough, we're leaving."

"But-."

"No," she eyed him sternly. "We're leaving."

"… Fine," he sighed.

Natasha smiled and pecked him on the cheek. Ted's small frown turned into a large grin, he put his arm around her shoulder and the two began walking into the carnival. Oblivious to the two, there were two figures tailing after them.

"That Thompson is completely useless," Matt shook his head.

"Made our little sister stand around for twenty minutes while he practically gave his money away," Ben shook his head disapprovingly. "This game can't be that hard, give it a go?"

"We'll definitely get Nat something," Matt agreed, pulling out his change.

_**Ping-ping-ping-ping-ping.**_

"Hey Ben! I got one!" Matt cheered.

"Yeah and missed the rest of them," Ben sighed. "Why do we suck at this?"

"Uh Ben, I don't think you've been listening," Matt patted his brother's back. "Only you suck; I got one."

"And that gets us like half a ticket or something," Ben rolled his eyes.

"Yeah… we'll get there…" Matt grinned. "Eventually."

"Then we'll have to play like fifty games," Ben did the maths very poorly in his head. "That'll take forever!"

"I'm sure we'll get better as we play," Matt gave his twin an encouraging smile. "And if we can get two or three balls then we can halve the games we need play."

"You know, let's split up," Ben suggested. "I'll go further in, maybe I'll find an easier game."

"Yeah, sure," Matt nodded as his brother walked away.

Matt fished out another dollar and passed it over to Dorsey.

"If you don't mind be asking, why do you want the tickets so desperately?" Dorsey asked, taking the money.

"We gotta get our sister something for her birthday," Matt smiled. "It's in a week."

"… Couldn't you just buy her something?" Dorsey asked. "Instead of spending so much money here you can probably buy her something."

"… Yeah, but what fun would that be?" Matt grinned.

**XoXo**

After leaving the carnival, Ted and Natasha stopped by the beach. Their clothes have been abandoned on shore while the two splashed about in their underwear. Natasha squealed when Ted picked her up and carried her over his shoulder, going deeper into the water. Ted laughed as she kicked and screamed profanities.

"No! No!"

Natasha chanted when Ted threw her into the water.

"Oh my god!" Natasha emerged from the water, her ponytail a mess.

She pulled the elastic out of her hair and pushed the wet strands out of her face. Ted swam up to her, unable to suppress his laughter when she glared at him.

"It's not funny, Ted!" Natasha groaned, pushing him away.

"Oh I'm sorry, baby," he grinned, leaning back in for a kiss.

Natasha struggled at first, refusing to look at him, but eventually she gave up and wrapped her arms around his neck. Their lips met briefly before Natasha giggled and pulled away from him.

"You taste sweet," he grinned, placing a hand on her cheek. "A lot like cotton candy."

"That's the cheesiest thing you've ever said to me," she chuckled, pecking him one more time before swimming back to shore.

"You know you like it," he called back, swimming after her.

Natasha dried herself off with Ted's shirt and climbed into her little cheerleading skirt. Before she could pull her top on, Ted walked up behind her and holds her from behind. Ted brushed her wet locks onto one side of her neck and leans in on her left. His lips touched her ear seductively, Natasha felt faint as he took a deep breath.

"It's your birthday next week," he hummed.

"I'm surprised you remember," she tried to sound casual.

"It's hard to forget with such a girlfriend," he chuckled. "Anything you want in particular?"

"You naked in my bed?" she proposed. "Or is that asking for too much?"

"That sounds pretty do-able," she can hear him grinning. "And what would we be doing in bed?"

"Well considering that I'd be naked too…" she trailed off suggestively.

"I think I got a pretty good idea."

"I bet you do."

Natasha spun around and looked Ted right in the eyes. He was stunning under the dark lighting. Sometimes dating Ted could be a pain as almost half of the female students in Bullworth had eyes for him. There's no doubt that he's good looking, but it's annoying having every girl ogle at your boyfriend.

"You're so handsome," she breathed.

"And you're gorgeous," he grinned, leaning down to kiss her. "Let's go back to the dorms, you're getting your present early."

"Oh no," she giggled. "You share a room with my brothers, no thank you. It's gonna have to wait until we're at my parents' house."

"Do we have to go to dinner with them?" he sounded uncertain.

"They want to meet you."

"They already know me."

"They want to meet you as my boyfriend," Natasha rolled her eyes. "It won't be so terrible, I promise."

"That's what you said about the chem test," he accused.

"It wasn't that bad!" she shrugged. "You just didn't study."

Ted made a face and pecked her again before pulling on his shirt. Being the gentleman that he was, he passed his jersey over to Natasha to wear. She kissed him lightly on the nose and walked ahead.

* * *

Unbelievable.

Natasha had just been to the carnival with Ted last week, and now her brothers are taking her again. Sure she had fun on her first time but she would have liked to have a larger gap between her next visit.

"Guys…" Natasha crossed her arms. "Ted brought me here last week… I told you that already."

"Yeah, well so were we-."

Ben elbowed his brother, successfully shutting him up. Natasha lifted a brow and smiled knowingly. Matt gulped involuntarily under his brother's condemning glare.

"_You totally gave it away!"_

"_I'm sorry, man!"_

A silent conversation was taking place between the two. The brothers glared at one another, both daring the other to speak fist. Natasha gave up on her complacent façade and sighed.

"Guys, it's alright," she uncrossed her arms and grabbed one brother by each arm. "Let's go have some fun."

"_Thank god we're not related to Pinky."_

* * *

Saturday afternoon, after spending the whole day out with the girls, Natasha arrived back at the dorms exhausted. She crashed onto her bed right away, slowly she felt herself dozing off. Maybe she could just call of dinner and just sleep, that seemed like the ideal way to spend rest of the evening.

"Get up Nat!" Mandy called. "You're going to see your parents in a couple of hours, jeez! Go take a shower!"

Natasha rolled out of bed wordlessly and scampered out of the room, forgetting to take anything with her – well at least they had towels in the showers. Mandy shook her head with a sigh and reached for her new bottles of nail varnish. She picked out a blue colour and shook the bottle well. Just when she finished her first toe, a knock came from the door. Immediately forgetting the varnish, Mandy ran for the door. Maybe it was Ben, or Matt, or if she was lucky both of them. She swung the door open and her smile dropped.

"… What do you want Bif?"

"Is Natasha in?" the prep peeked into the room.

"She's taking a shower, she's going to her parents' tonight," Mandy tapped the doorframe, then noticing a small package in his hands. "Is that for her?"

"Yeah," Mandy reached for it, but Bif pulled away just before she could touch it. "I don't think so."

"What is it?" she asked, curious over what expensive gift he had bought Natasha.

"Wouldn't you like to know," he rolled his eyes. "I guess I can wait."

Bif brushed past Mandy and sat on one of the beds, the one not covered in bottles of nail varnish.

"I think you should just drop it off and go," Mandy suggested. "Nat's gonna be back soon."

"Good, that means I won't have to wait long," Bif smiled.

"No, you don't understand," Mandy gritted through her teeth. "Natasha doesn't have her clothes with her."

"Even better," Bif grinned ear-to-ear.

"Get out Bif!" Mandy raised her voice. "She's gonna be so pissed when-."

The door creaked open and Natasha walked in with a towel wrapped around her body. She was saying something when she walked in, but her train of thought crashed when she saw Bif Taylor sitting on her bed.

"…"

"Nat, I tried getting him to leave," Mandy groaned, propping a hand on her hip.

"Bif," Natasha said hoarsely. "Get the fuck out."

Mandy eyed him as he walked towards the door and mouthed smugly: _'Told you so.'_

"Wait!"

Bif rushed back in and handed Natasha the small nicely wrapped box. She clutched onto her towel tightly as she noticed his eyes straying from her face.

"Thank you," she nodded with a straight smile. "Now kindly fuck off."

Bif nodded and ran out right away.

"Happy birthday!" he sang from the corridor.

Natasha placed the box down by the dresser and got changed. She was wearing the hideous yellow shirt her brothers won for her yesterday. Her mother was definitely going to have something to say about it. She crawled back onto her bed and shut her eyes, oblivious to Mandy who had been staring holes at her.

"Say Nat?"

"Hm?"

"About the present…"

"What present?"

"The one you just got from Bif."

"Oh, _that_ present."

"Yes, that present," Mandy frowned slightly, realizing that Natasha was teasing her. "Shouldn't you open and see what it is?"

"Uh… yeah sure."

Natasha sat up and reached for the box. She unraveled the strings as if it was the most tedious work ever. Inside the box was another littler box, on the side clearly embedded was _'Tiffany & Co.'_

Natasha glared at the box.

'_Holy shit.'_

'_Please don't be a ring, anything but a ring.'_

Mandy leaned in behind Natasha as she careful opened the box to find a suede pouch. Well at least it's not a ring. Natasha felt slightly more at ease as she carefully tugged open the drawstrings.

"What is it?" Mandy whispered when Natasha didn't move.

Natasha burst out laughing and handed the pouch to Mandy, she stood up and began packing her bag for the evening. Mandy looked after her friend, baffled by her reaction; she then glanced inside the pouch.

"He got you earrings?" Mandy stated. "Wow… I think these are real diamonds."

"No really?" Natasha rolled her eyes. "Don't get too attached, I'm giving them back to Bif."

"What? They're so beautiful! You have to keep them!" Mandy exclaimed.

"Mandy, my ears aren't even pierced," Natasha snorted. "Pack the earrings back up, and for the love of god please don't break them, Mandy."

"Fine, whatever," Mandy scoffed, placing them into the pouch. "Just so you know; if I had Bif Taylor hooked around my little finger, I'd get him to buy me all sorts of nice things."

"Please," Natasha laughed. "Like what?"

"Uh- well…" Mandy gave it some thought. "For a start, he's probably got tons of connections and I can get a modeling deal! Then I can make my own money and buy whatever I wanted."

"Sure," Natasha rolled her eyes with a smile. "And live the good life, right?"

"Totally," Mandy beamed. "Maybe you should go out with Bif, and then casually ask him to help me launch my modeling career?"

"Uh no," Natasha shook her head, taking the Tiffany's box and carefully tucking it in her larger tote. "I think I'm rather happy in my current relationship."

"Well yes," Mandy nodded. "Ted is very dreamy."

"My god, you just called my boyfriend dreamy," Natasha chuckled. "Mandy, there's something wrong with your head. I think you're still fantasizing about being a model."

"Oh shut up, Natasha," Mandy groaned.

"Bye, bye Mandy," Natasha headed out the door. "Have a good weekend."

"You too!" she called back. "Tell me if you pop your cherry!"

* * *

Natasha parked her bike by the gate and walked to the door. The Evans owned a mansion in Old Bullworth Vale, it was nowhere near the size of the Harrington's mansion but still decently sized. Living in this neighborhood had been tough for Natasha, especially when one of the families threw a party.

The only reason why they lived here was because the Evans family had owned the land before the houses were even built. So when a group of prospectors came knocking on great grandpa Evans' door, they made an offer that was impossible to refuse: a sizable mansion and a large sum of money.

Growing up in Old Bullworth Vale was also one of the reasons why she knew Bif, they were neighbors until they got to Bullworth Academy. Bif and Natasha actually got along pretty well when they were younger; they played quite a lot together in their primary school years. But after reaching middle school, Bif got closer with rest of the rich kids that lived around the Vale. That group soon grew to be the preppies clique. Notably after making friends with Derby Harrington, Bif began to act rude and arrogant, especially to the kids from outside the neighborhood. That didn't stand well with her brothers, and it created and unease in their friendship. Now Natasha just tries to avoid him at all costs, hoping she wouldn't walk into him around school.

"Natasha!" Serena Evans hugged her daughter. After releasing her vice like grip, she held her daughter at arms length and examined Natasha. "Have you grown taller? And… oh… what a uh… an interesting choice of shirt."

"Matt and Ben got it for me," she shrugged back. "Thought it might be nice to wear it this one time since it was for my birthday."

"But isn't Ted coming?" Serena asked.

"Yeah, but it's not like it's a big deal," Natasha tried to reassure her mother.

"Nonsense," Serena shook her head. "Let's hurry on up, I'm sure we can find something in your wardrobe."

"But mum," Natasha grumbled. "It's fine, I don't need anything special."

"It's your birthday," Serena dragged Natasha up the stairs. "I want you to look good in front of your boyfriend."

Natasha gave up and just followed her mother. One thing about being a teenage girl and having a young mother is that they understand, even the little details you overlook they'll catch on immediately. Now if she thinks Ted's going to have a problem with a beat down yellow shirt, then Natasha should just shut her mouth and get changed.

"God, what were Matt and Ben thinking getting you that shirt," Serena shook her head as she went through Natasha's wardrobe. "I thought I had raised them well enough to know from poorly coloured shirts…"

Serena glanced back at the shirt.

"God…" she sighed, turning back around. "And in such an awful shade too?"

Natasha shrugged and lied back on her bed as she waited for her mother to pick something out. Serena flicked through the hangers and eyed each dress with disinterest until something caught her eye.

"Natasha, honey?"

"Yeah?" she yawned.

"What do you think?"

Natasha sat up and smiled, she could always count on her mother to fix a problem. In Serena's hand was the blue strapless dress she wore to her aunt's wedding. Though that was around two years ago, Natasha glanced back down at her figure.

"Do you think it'll fit?" she asked.

"Sure," Serena nodded. "I'll leave you to it then, sweetie. I got some dinner preparations that need to be done."

"When's dad getting here?" Natasha asked.

"He'll get here before dinner, he's going to pick up your birthday present," Serena winked, before leaving the room. "And the boys are with him, they're coming together."

Okay that last part worried her. Matt and Ben with her father, perfectly normal and understandable. But Ted?

Natasha shook the thought away from her head, and picked up the dress. She got other more pressing matters to worry about, like fitting into this damned dress. She got the zip halfway up until it got to her chest, Natasha took a deep breath in and held it as she zipped it rest of the way.

Okay, wow.

It was really tight, just how much as her upper body grown in the last two years? She examined herself in the mirror. Well the dress covered up everything all right, it's just that it was painful to breath.

"Natasha, are you changed?" her mother called from behind the door.

"Uh yeah," she said, her voice raspy.

"Wow, it still looks great on you," Serena walked in and inspected her daughter. "Looks a little tight around the chest though…"

"I know!" Natasha took deep breaths. "I feel like I have a brick wall pushing down on my chest."

"Well it's this or the hideous yellow shirt," Serena eyed her daughter expectantly, almost judgingly.

"Yeah, I'll wear the dress," Natasha sighed.

"Good!" Serena clapped her hands together.

XoXo

"Mum, if you fluffed your hair anymore they'd think you're trying too hard," Natasha straightened out her mother's curly blonde hair.

"I thought I could just do a quick touchup before your father gets back," Serena looked up at Natasha through the mirror's reflection. "I wish I had red hair."

"No you don't," Natasha rolled her eyes. "I used to get picked on so much because of it."

"Oh yes… I remember," Serena reached for curling iron. "That Taylor boy from next door used to run around the yard screaming 'ginger' every afternoon."

"Yes, Bif, and speaking of which," Natasha placed the brush down on the vanity and reached for her bag. "He got me a little something for my birthday."

Natasha handed the box to her mother and waited for her mother's depiction.

"It's a Tiffany's box," Serena stated even before seeing the embedded words, she opened the packaging and found the earrings. "Wow, they're really beautiful."

"Yeah, well that's not the problem," Natasha sighed as her mother placed them over the pearls in her ear. "Mum."

"Right, yes," Serena placed them back into the pouch. "Well, he's always had a crush on you, since you two were babies. And this wouldn't have cost him much."

"But mum, my ears aren't even pierced," Natasha groaned. "I think I might just give them back."

"Well do whatever you like, Natasha," Serena handed the box back to her. "But these would look really lovely with your dress."

'_I can't wear them even if I wanted to!' _

As if right on queue, the front door clicked open and footsteps can be heard downstairs.

"Oh, they're here!" Serena stood up and straightened her skirt. "Come Natasha!"

Walking down the stairs and having your family look up in awe at you, that's perfectly fine.

Walking down the stairs and having your family plus boyfriend look up in awe at you, incredibly embarrassing.

Moments like this, Natasha wished their house was smaller and it was just a matter of walking to the next room.

"Hey daddy," Natasha stopped in front of her father.

"Looking well, Natasha," Cal Evans planted a small kiss on her forehead. "Serena."

"Hey Cal," he placed an arm around Serena, and pecked her slightly.

Serena dragged her sons into a hug and she pushed the Evans men into the next room, knowing full well that Ted and Natasha needed some time alone.

"Wow, you look amazing," Ted finally spoke up.

"Thanks," Natasha nodded, feeling herself got even hotter by the second. "You look nice too."

"You know, your breasts look three times bigger than usual in that dress?" Ted smirked, already recovered from the initial shock.

"Shut up," Natasha rolled her eyes and walked into the next room.

Her family was distributed around the living room, her father in his large armchair, the twins lounged on the three-seater, subtlety leaving the loveseat free, and her mother was in the kitchen finishing dinner. They sat on the loveseat, Natasha on the side closer to her father and Ted next to the twins. Ted swung his arm over Natasha's shoulder casually.

"You know Natasha, I had a nice long talk with Ted here earlier," Cal eyed his daughter. "I've always known he's a fine lad but now I know he'll take care of you."

"Really?" Natasha whispered looked up at Ted, her blue orbs meeting his.

"It was really scary actually," he whispered back under his breath.

She grinned and faced back to her father.

"You know, I've always thought you'd end up with the Taylor boy from next door," Cal shrugged. "You should watch out for him, Ted. The boy next door has had the biggest crush on my little girl since they were tots. What was his name again? Barry?"

"Dad…" Natasha hushed.

"Bif," the twins spoke up in unison.

"Yeah, Bif Taylor," Cal nodded.

"Bif?"

Oh god no.

Serena walked in and stood behind her husband's armchair. She jumped right into the conversation; Serena Evans was not one to pass on a good gossip.

"Yeah the boy from next door," Cal said.

"I know, Natasha and I were just talking about him before you arrived," Serena replied. "He bought her a pair of diamond earrings."

"You're joking," Ben frowned.

"No, they're upstairs," Serena shrugged.

"Mum…" Natasha eyed her mother expectantly. _'Please shut up!'_

Natasha could feel Ted tensing up as her family spoke, his jaw was clenched and his hand grew sweaty in hers. This was not good. If Bif showed up dead in an alley somewhere in the next couple of days, she'll have a pretty good idea of who's responsible. Serena glanced over at her daughter and immediately understood her mistake; she clicked her mouth shut and dropped the topic.

"Anyways, dinner is ready," Serena headed towards the dining table. "Come on birthday girl and boys."

"Boys?" Cal repeated with a sloppy smile, following after his wife.

'_Oh parents and they're flirting.'_

Matt and Ben ran after them immediately, completely starved. Natasha glanced over at Ted who was still in some kind of trance.

"Hey, you alright?"

"How long have you and Bif Taylor been friends?" he asked.

"We're not friends anymore," she shook her head. "We were back in primary school. We kinda grew up together. He didn't mean anything to me before and he never will. I'm going to give the earrings back."

"Well he doesn't know that," Ted frowned. "The guy bought you diamonds."

"Just think of it as an obligatory, neighborly, we-used-to-hang-out present," Natasha shrugged. "Come on, let's go. We shouldn't keep them waiting."

**XoXo**

After dinner, the Evans family plus Ted was in the backyard where the teens were playing touch football and the parents watched from the terrace. Natasha having finally found an excuse to get out of the confining attire had agreed to play almost immediately. Though not exactly fair, Ben and Matt paired themselves into a team against Ted and Natasha. While Ted being a good player, they had no chance against the twins.

"Natasha?" Cal called.

"Yeah?"

Natasha jogged over, and stood in front of her parents.

"Don't you boys think it's time to show Natasha her present?" Serena asked.

"Oh yeah," Matt grinned. "You'll love it, Nat."

Natasha followed her family around the house both curiously and warily. Knowing her family, it could be anything. Ted hung back and put an arm around Natasha.

"And you know boys, today Natasha showed up in the most horrendously coloured shirt," Serena glanced over at her sons. "And she said she got it from you two."

Oh her mother and her seemingly endless range of adjectives to insult the shirt.

"You know mum, sometimes you just gotta take what you get," Matt laughed.

"It's all we could get with our tickets," Ben shrugged back.

"Wait, so when you came asking for money for Natasha's present you meant by playing carnival games?" Serena narrowed her eyes at the boys.

"It's fine really mum," Natasha chuckled uneasily. "So where's this present?"

"Front of the house," Ben grinned.

Natasha frowned at the vagueness. She then turned to Ted.

"What is it?" she whispered.

"You're about to find out," Ted smiled.

They finally reached around the corner and she held her breath. In front of her, parked in the driveway was a car. Natasha grinned and ran towards the car. Clipped behind the windshield wiper was a card that said 'Happy Birthday Natasha'.

"What do you think?" Cal asked.

"Wow, this is wonderful!" Natasha hugged her father. "Thank you!"

"The boys helped me pick it out," Cal smiled.

"Thanks guys," she hugged both her brothers, one arm around each. "This is really great."

Finally she stopped in front of Ted and smiled.

"Thanks Ted," she grinned and pecked him lightly.

"Okay Natasha, don't go test driving yet alright?" Serena said. "Ben has to get the safety things checked."

"A little part we overlooked today," Cal shrugged.

"Got it mum," Natasha called over her shoulder.

**XoXo**

"So, is this the part I go and wait for you in your bed?" Ted asked.

Natasha gave him a small teasing smile and tilted her head to a side.

"Hm… Maybe," she giggled.

Cal and Serana have retired to their quarters at the opposite side of the house, under the belief that Ted was sleeping over with the twins. Matt and Ben were still out on the lawn, passing the football between each other. Leaving Natasha and Ted just outside her bedroom door.

"You know, I really liked that dress on you," he said. "A shame you took it off right after dinner."

"Yeah? Did you maybe want to take it off by yourself?" she smirked knowingly.

"Hey, a guy can dream right?" he chuckled.

Ted leaned in and captured her lips. His hands finding their way to her hips, his fingers tracing the skin on her lower back. Natasha wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her.

"Ew."

The two immediately pulled away and turned towards the voice. Standing across from them were Matt and Ben, sweaty and looking very put off.

"Geez, Nat," Ben sighed. "Never thought we'd have to tell you this, but…"

"Get a room," the twins said in unison.

Natasha made a face as she pushed Ted into her bedroom and slammed the door shut.

"Goodnight!" they called after them.

Ted watched as Natasha breathed in and out slowly at a steady pace.

"Those two," she sighed.

"Forget about them," he shrugged. "They're just jealous they don't have hot girlfriends like you."

"Teddy Bear, I'm their sister," she grinned.

"Don't call me that, Natasha…" he crossed his arms, face turning a dangerous red.

"Aw… don't get mad at me now."

She grasped onto his shoulders, and pushed him back onto the bed.

"We were just getting started."

* * *

"And then?" Mandy squealed, on the edge of her bed.

"Uh… pretty self explanatory, no?" Natasha chuckled awkwardly. "_It _happened."

"How did it feel?" Mandy asked.

"It was alright," she replied with a small shrug.

"Did it hurt?"

"Uh- Mandy… I'm not really big on kissing and telling," Natasha unpacked her bags.

It was the morning after her birthday, and Natasha just arrived back on campus with Ted. The twins were taking her new car to get the safety modules checked on. Mandy has been bugging her all morning about the events that happened last night.

"Yeah, but it's sexing and telling now," Mandy smiled. "So you gotta tell me honestly, how was it?"

"Argh… Mandy… do we have to?" Natasha whined, reaching into her bag.

"Yes!"

Natasha groaned and thought back to last night. She chewed at her bottom lip as she pulled out the large yellow shirt.

"It hurt," she slowly admitted. "… A lot."

"Oh," Mandy's smile vanished. "Well, that's alright. I heard first times always hurt somewhat."

"I suppose," she agreed. "But I'm not sure if- … it didn't feel good, Mandy. At all."

"It's fine, Nat," Mandy placed an arm over Natasha's shoulder reassuringly. "You did nothing wrong. Don't worry about it."

"Yeah, you're right," Natasha forced a smile, as she pulled out the last item from her bag. "Thanks."

"No, don't worry about it," Mandy smiled and turned to the box Natasha just pulled out. "Hey, isn't that?"

"Yeah, Bif's present," Natasha sighed. "I haven't had a chance to return it to him yet. I tried his house this morning, but his mum said he's been staying at Harrington House for the last few months. So that only means more trouble for me."

"Want me to come with?" Mandy offered.

"No," she shook her head. "I'll head there now, see you later."

"Bye!"

**XoXo**

Derby Harrington liked his mansion. He'd like to think it reminded the other students of his wealth and superiority, which it does. What he dislikes is when he sees a jock cheerleader walking through the doors, and the very same one that Bif talks about non-stop.

"Good morning," she greeted politely. "I'm looking for Bif Taylor?"

"I thought so," Derby crossed his arms. "You're Natasha Evans right?"

"And you're Derby Harrington," she nodded. "You're not as feminine as my boyfriend described you."

"Someone get Bif down here at once!" Derby roared at the others present in the room.

All of them ran up the stairs immediately.

Natasha didn't even bat an eye. This infuriated Derby even more. Just what did Bif see in her anyway? Sure she was pretty, but that's all there was. She was rude, not to mention she comes with a whole lot of baggage – her two brothers and her meathead boyfriend.

Bif soon appeared by the stairs, yawning as he walked down slowly.

"What's up, Derby?" he called.

"Your tart's here to see you," Derby hissed.

"Tart?" Bif looked down. "Oh! Natasha! Hey!"

Bif rushed down and joined the two.

"I'm not your tart," Natasha glanced over at Bif threateningly.

"Yeah! Watch your mouth Derby!" Bif said, a little louder than needed.

"You watch _your _mouth," Derby replied. "Finish whatever business you have with her then kick her out."

With those finals words, Derby headed towards the front door.

"So, what brings you here?" Bif asked, doing a terrible job at hiding how excited he was.

"Uh, this," Natasha held the box up. "I cannot accept it."

"Why not?" Bif frowned. "It wasn't expensive or anything really! Only a fraction of my weekly allowance!"

"It's not that," Natasha shook her head and shoved the box into his hands. "One, my ears aren't pierced and two, I'm already going out with Ted."

"Just hear me out, Natasha," Bif insisted. "Please, you've never let me-."

"Just drop it, okay?" Natasha exclaimed. "Please!"

"Fine," Bif's expression turned cold. "I understand. You should leave now."

"I was just about to show myself-."

The front doors slammed open and Mandy ran in, her eyes teary and face red. Natasha immediately rushed over and placed her hand over her friend's back.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

"I-Its," Mandy hiccupped. "Y-Your family… they were _–hic-_ in a car crash."

"What? You're joking right?" Natasha frowned, feeling her tears pool up. "You're kidding right?"

Natasha was in a state of denial. This couldn't have happened. There was absolutely no reason for her whole family to be in a car together at this moment. There was nothing that would have brought them together in a car…

Her mouth went dry as the realization hit her.

It was her car. The safety hasn't been over checked yet…

"Natasha?" Mandy called. "Snap out of it! We've got to go, a police officer is here for you."

Mandy tried shaking Natasha's shoulders but nothing worked. Her friend remained stood stiffly, her eyes dark and teary.

"Bif! Do something!"

Bif shook at the sound of his name. What could he possibly do at a situation like this? He walked over and placed a hand on Natasha's shoulder, but she just shrugged him off.

"I'll go myself," she whispered.

Mandy and Bif stood stunned, as they watched Natasha leave the building.

* * *

Two weeks after the incident, over at New Coventry, the same routine was going down. Johnny and Lola were yelling over some nonsense in the next room while Ricky was trying to fix the television set.

'_Seriously, every single damn day.'_

If they couldn't stand each other, why didn't they just break up? It was the simplest solution, but whenever Ricky brought it up, Johnny would go all cold and shut himself off.

Peanut strolled into the room with two six-packs and the rest of the boys cheered.

"Alas!" Lefty stood up from the sofa. "We were starting to think you ran off."

"Like I would do that," Peanut scoffed. "I heard something while I was in town."

"Yeah? What happened?" Lucky asked.

"You know the Evans right?" Peanut said. "The cute cheerleader and her two meathead brothers?"

"Those three haven't been to school in the last two weeks," Ricky stood up, joining the gang for a beer.

"Yeah, apparently their parents were killed in a car crash," Peanut informed.

"No shit, seriously?" Ricky almost choked, to which Peanut responded a nod. "Is Natasha alright? Johnny's got classes with her, and he's spoken about her a few times."

"I heard the twins were in the car with their parents," Peanut recalled. "Ben was driving and for some reason he was the only one that made it out fine, Matt was hospitalized in New York with a relative, and their parents dead. Don't think she was in the car."

"So she's fine?" Ricky sighed. "That's good news then. We should probably go tell Johnny…"

Ricky was interrupted by a loud shout from next door. It was Lola again. No one in the room really fancied going next door. The last thing they'd want was to get in between one of their fights. He sighed.

'_Suppose I can tell him later…'_

Little did he know, he'd forget about the incident entirely after a few more cans of beer.

* * *

**Hehe, a flashback chapter. **

**I have no excuse, I just wanted to write Ted and Natasha's relationship before the whole accident. And also the rest of the Evans family.**

**Thanks to everyone who alerted and favorited!**

**Reviews:**

forgetmenotflowers – hehe, I'm glad you liked it! :) There's not much Johnny in this chapter (none at all actually :P) but I promise he'll show up more next chapter! Thanks for the review! :)

KikyoHayuta – Haha, don't mind the spam! I'm imagining all sorts of scenarios with the greaser boys eavesdropping on them now that they're together xD Thank you for the review!

Bluedayz – Thanks for the review! I'm glad you like the story :D Errrmm… tough question… It'd be pretty neat to hang out with the preppies no? Wearing aquaberry sweaters and all, we'd look down on other students and criticize their bad fashion sense… Nah! xD I'd probably be a non-clique member, I'm not very big on socializing or making friends :P

Gabriel12345 – Finally updated! :D Thank you for your PM! If it weren't for that, I probably wouldn't have updated for a long while! :)

**Reviews please! :)**


	6. Courtship

**Bully**

_**Look Alive, Sunshine**_

_**Chapter Six: Courtship**_

* * *

Ben shifted uneasily as he heard more giggling come from the door. Waiting around in the girls' dormitory really wasn't a part of his plan, he just desperately wanted to speak with his sister. Where is Natasha anyway? She hasn't been to any of her classes and now she's not in her room. The last he saw of her was when she was leaving with Johnny.

He scanned the room and found her alarm clock, its curfew in a few minutes. Looking around some more, a particular stuffed bear caught his eye, and it wasn't just any stuffed toy it was the one that him and Matt tried to win for Natasha. How did Natasha get it? Ted couldn't have got it.

'_Anyone but Johnny Vincent.'_

'_Anyone but Johnny Vincent.'_

"What's going on? Get out of the way!"

The crowd of girls dispersed from the door and Natasha walked in, slamming the door behind her. She sighed, realizing now that all the girls were staring at her brother.

"Hey Ben," she waved, placing her bag down. "You should go soon, curfew's in a couple of minutes and you don't want Ms. Peabody catching you in here."

"I've been looking for you all day," he stood up from her bed.

"I was off-campus, sorry," she gave him an apologetic smile.

"With Johnny Vincent?" he crossed his arms.

"… Yeah," she looked at him crudely. "Why? Do you have a problem with that?"

"I just don't think guys like him are right for you," Ben took a step forward.

"And what? Guys like Ted Thompson were?" she asked bitterly.

"No! I understand that now! Which is why I don't want you making the same mistake!" Ben held her shoulders.

"Yeah well, he's not Ted," Natasha slapped his hands away.

"Look, listen… I-I'm just worried about you," he sighed. "You haven't been acting… very you lately."

"How can I?" she glared at him. "After everything how can you go on as if nothing has happened? Don't you care about Matt at all? You've never once shown up to visit! He's been asking about you all this time!"

"Of coarse I do," Ben replied bitterly. "I just need some time, okay? I want to see him, I really do. I'll go with you the next time you go."

"You better," Natasha sighed, climbing into her bed. "I promised him I'll get you there."

"Sunday?"

"Yes, we'll go together," Natasha nodded. "Say around noon?"

"Sounds good," Ben agreed. "… Did Johnny win you that bear?"

"Yeah," Natasha looked back at the massive stuffed bear. "Isn't he cute? He's called Mr. Snuggles."

"Mr. Snuggles?" Ben repeated distastefully. "Did he come up with the name?"

"No," Natasha rolled her eyes. "He wanted to call him Fred. Yeah right, as if I'd name my bear Fred."

"Fred's sounding pretty good compared to Mr. Snuggles," Ben shrugged.

"Oi, shut up," Natasha threw a pillow his way. Then she had a sudden moment of realization. "Hey, you hung up on me!"

"What?" Ben gave her a puzzled look.

"I called you on Tuesday after seeing Matt!" Natasha poked him in the chest. "And you hung up on me!"

"Uh, I don't remember anything like that happening," Ben stuffed his hands in his pocket nervously.

"You liar!" she poked him again, harder this time. "You know how much I hate people that hang up on me!"

"I'm sorry Nat! Jeez!" Ben swatted her hand away. "I just didn't know what to say then!"

"Whatever," she sighed. "I gotta change, so go away now."

"Fine," Ben rolled his eyes, walking towards the door. "Nat?"

"Hm?" she looked back over at him.

"You seem better," he noted.

"I feel better," she shrugged with a smile.

"Yeah?" Ben asked, glancing her way. "Lets hope it lasts."

Natasha said nothing; in fact she might have scowled at him. After all that talking he still doubts Johnny. Ben left after murmuring a quiet goodbye to her. Natasha gave him a stern glare as he shut the door.

'_Brilliant. Just brilliant!'_

Ben's intention was to get in and out of the dormitory quick and easy – not wait for an hour and be leered at by girls. After getting to the dorms he would speak to Natasha immediately, and also convince her to stop seeing Johnny, and then maybe casually mention Matt. Definitely not to be yelled at by Natasha and then have her get mad at him.

"Hey Ben."

"Hi."

Ben replied without looking up from the ground, still frustrated with his poor choice of words earlier.

"Uh? Ben? Being rather rude or we not?"

"Huh?"

Ben looked up and did his best to resist frowning. Mandy stood in front of him with Pinky leering at him from behind, both dressed in their pajamas.

"So, what brings you to the girls' dorm?" Mandy asked, eyeing him coarsely.

"I had to speak with my sister," Ben replied, looking for a way to step around them, but they had him trapped. "Can I help you girls with anything?"

"Like you, we're just concerned about Natasha," Mandy feigned a sympathetic voice.

"Of coarse you are," Ben unconvinced by her tone.

"Well, with all the rumors going around, about her in Happy Volts… and Johnny Vincent out of all people… we're all very worried," Mandy remarked.

"And do you actually believe that crap about Happy Volts?" Ben eyed her dangerously.

"Well, Pinky was the one who told me," Mandy pointed at the girl behind her. "She said she saw Natasha come down from Happy Volts."

"I did!" Pinky spoke up. "I swear! I was with Derby! He saw her too!"

"What are you doing here anyway?" Ben asked, directing the conversation away from his sister, and everyone knew that Pinky just loved talking about herself.

"Oh, funny you should ask," Pinky sighed. "That whore Lola moved into the Harrington House a couple of weeks ago, cuz' you know… Johnny broke up with her? And she's just so terrible! I can't understand how any of them can stand having that stupid greaser around! So I moved out and Mandy offered me the spare bed in her room."

"Right," Ben nodded, trying to sound interested. "I must get going, I don't want any trouble with Ms. Peabody."

Ben dashed off before either of the girls could say anything. Luckily for him too, if he had to stay another minute listening to Pinky yap he might throw himself out a window. If he ever needed to speak to Natasha again, he'll definitely call her beforehand to avoid having to go through that horrendous experience again.

Not only that, Natasha actually managed to talk him into going to Happy Volts. Ben's going to see his twin for the first time after his accident, by what he's been hearing from his sister, Matt isn't doing so well and is maybe getting worse.

'_I guess I'll find out on Sunday.'_

* * *

Ben shook slightly as the iron gates creaked shut behind him. Okay, he can't run now. He'd promised he come see his brother and he'll see this through after giving his word. Plus it's about time he saw Matt, it's been far too long since he last saw him.

Amanda greeted the two of them with a warm smile. Natasha introduced the younger twin to Amanda.

"So this is the brother I've heard so much about," Amanda nodded with a smile. "I'm so glad you're here, Matt's been asking about you all this time."

"Can I see him now?" Ben asked anxiously, clenching his fists subconsciously.

"Yes, of coarse," Amanda directed them down the hall. "Come this way."

Amanda stopped in front of Room 72 and slowly pushed the door open, Natasha and Ben followed in eagerly. Matt was sat up on his bed once again, glaring out the window. He hadn't noticed the others' presence until Ben spoke up.

"Matt?" Ben tried, taking a step forward.

The older twin visibly stiffened at the sound of Ben's voice. He turned around cautiously and looked his twin in the eye.

"Ben," Matt grinned, ecstatic to see him.

Natasha watched as her brothers hugged each other for a few good seconds. It's been too long since she's seen the two in the same room. The two pulled away and eventually started to catch up. Ben would tell Matt about all that's happened at school while Matt complained about the food served at the asylum.

Amanda cleared her throat and left the room with a smile.

Matt looked up sheepishly and his gaze stopped on his sister. He smiled and waved a hand, asking for her to come over. Natasha walked over and sat on the edge of his bed.

"I'm sorry about last time," he sighed, pulling her in for a hug. "I don't know what came over me. Forgive me?"

"Do you even need to ask?" she grinned. "Of coarse, I forgive you."

The rest of the day was spent hanging out with Matt. Amanda had been checking up on them every hour, recording Matt's behavior, with every visit she seemed to have been smiling more and more. Perhaps Matt was getting better. There hasn't been an outburst so far today. Things were looking well.

At the end of the day, when visiting hours were over, Amanda came in.

"I'm sorry you two, but visiting hours are now over," she smiled.

"Right," Ben nodded. "It was nice seeing you Matty, get better soon alright?"

"Yeah, yeah," Matt droned. "Come visit me soon?"

"You bet."

"You too, Natasha," Matt turned to her. "Thanks for keeping your promise."

"Hey, that's why you have a little sister," Natasha grinned. "Take care!"

Ben and Natasha waved goodbye to their brother and followed Amanda out.

"He seems to have improved greatly," Amanda noted. "This is good progress. If he carries on as he is, we may even think about discharging him."

"That's great news," Natasha beamed. "I'm sure he misses all his friends. It'd be great if he can start going to school again."

"That'll take a while," Amanda chuckled. "But if he keeps improving, I don't see why he can't recuperate at home under familiar surroundings."

"That sounds great," Ben smiled.

"You should visit more, Ben," Amanda turned to look at him. "Matt seems to be responding well to you. It might be because you're twins, or maybe because you were in the accident together. But whatever it is, it's working."

Ben forced a smile and nodded.

Once they were outside, Natasha let out a big sigh.

"Isn't this great? Matt's gonna get better in no time!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah," Ben agreed. "I'm glad he's doing okay."

"Me too…" she stretched her arms out. "So what now? It's getting pretty late."

"I gotta get to football practice," Ben headed for his bike. "Coach's putting on a night session for the big game next week, so I'm gonna rush ahead first alright?"

"Go for it," she nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye, Nat!" he called over his shoulder as he rode away. "Careful on your way back!"

Ben soon disappeared through the gate, and Natasha decided she should too leave before the guards start chasing her. She climbed onto her bike and cycled out the gate. Since she was out of school, she could head into town to buy some snacks before returning to school.

Stopping in front of Yum Yum Market, Natasha parked her bike against a wall and headed inside. A strange sight greeted her, not only were there a group of people gathered, but they all wore leather jackets.

Oh god.

What were the chances of seeing Johnny Vincent and his gang on a Sunday evening?

"What d'you mean you can't sell them to me?" Johnny demanded at the counter. "You're damn lucky me and my boys don't rob this place clean!"

Unaware of Natasha's presence, Johnny continued to harass the store clerk. The Greasers had headed towards Bullworth Town to buy more spray paint as the market in New Coventry ran out. The clerk from the other store even said he put a word in for them. Well apparently not, since the clerk from this store is refusing to sell them any.

"Look here, buddy," Johnny lifted his fist up. "You've got exactly ten seconds to bring me all your spray paint or I'll knock your-."

"Or you'll knock his what?" Natasha head popped up over his shoulder. "His teeth out? His hair off?"

Johnny glared over his shoulder at the person that dared mock him. Except that person just so happened to be the one person he can't stop thinking about. Natasha glanced back up at him innocently, her lips quivering into a small smile.

"… I was going to say 'face clean'," Johnny stepped aside, dropping his hand immediately.

"That doesn't sound very threatening," she chuckled. "Spray paint, right?"

"Yeah," Johnny replied.

"Sir," Natasha stepped up to the counter, addressing the clerk. "I would like to have, this pack of crisps and a box of spray paint, please."

Natasha slapped a bag of Lays onto the counter and waited for him to move with a small smile.

"U-uh, what colour would you like?" the clerk asked.

"Colour?" Natasha looked to Johnny.

"… Red."

"Red," she repeated, turning back to the counter with a smile. "… Please, if you may."

The clerk entered the stock room hurriedly and returned with a large cardboard box, its contents clinked together as he wobbled out. He heaved the box onto the counter, next to the crisps and began punching in numbers on the cash register.

"That'll be twen-."

As if on queue, the greasers from behind them ran forward grabbed the box and ran out of the store, leaving both the clerk and Natasha dazed. Johnny leaned into her left side.

"I'll catch up with you later," Johnny whispered to her before chasing after his boys.

It was quick and short, but that line alone was enough to make her shiver and turn red. Just what is Johnny Vincent doing to her?

"Ah! It appears you have been robbed," Natasha smiled sheepishly. "How much again?"

"… Ninety cents, please," the clerk looked as if he was going to cry.

"Here, and thank you!"

Natasha dropped the coins, picked up her snack and marched out of the store before the clerk decides to retaliate. She dumped her crisps into her backpack and cycled down the road as quickly as possible.

Stopping by the beach, Natasha glanced around for any signs of Johnny or the Greasers. Her first guess would be they ran back to the Tenements to stash the stolen goods. She would go after them if New Coventry weren't so… unfriendly.

Taking a long sigh, she decided to just give it a shot not matter how nerve-racking it was.

"What's with that sigh?"

Natasha turned around and saw Johnny standing over her. His hands tucked in his pockets leisurely and a sloppy smile present.

"You…"

"Hm?" he pulled his hand out of his pockets.

"How could you do that?!" she demanded. "You robbed that man's store!"

"Yeah well, I wasn't about to pay that jerk after all he's been," Johnny scoffed, taking her bike handle from her. "Let's walk and talk."

"And what exactly has he been?" Natasha asked, following after him.

"A jackass," he replied.

"I think that was called, doing his job?" she rubbed her head. "Jeez…"

The two walked together down the boardwalk in silence for a few minutes. Natasha stared at the sea while Johnny seemed to be thinking over something.

"Say," he turned to look at her.

"Yes?" she glanced up.

"Climb onto the bike," he instructed as he got on.

"What?" she made a face. "No. I don't want to be on the back. It's embarrassing."

"Aw, come on," Johnny grumbled. "It'll be fun!"

Natasha crossed her arms and shook her head, finalizing her argument. Johnny stared at her, this was the first time he's seen her act like a little kid. Was it such a great deal? Sitting on the back?

"Alright then…" he hummed, cycling ahead. "Say bye-bye to your precious bike…"

"What?" she exclaimed, running after him. "Come back!"

"Sit on the back," he called.

"No!"

Johnny cycled faster, leaving her breathlessly trying to catch up with him.

"Is this how you treat your girlfr… the person you're courting?" she yelled after him.

The bike came to an immediate halt, and he looked back over his shoulder, his expression unclear to her. In reality, Johnny was doing his best not to laugh. She's certainly got some strange vocabulary up her sleeve, and definitely stranger places to use those words.

"Get on!" Johnny said.

"… Alright," she sighed, defeated, she climbed onto the back.

"That wasn't so hard was it?" he smirked. "… Girl I'm courting."

Natasha looked down to her knees anxiously as she punched his back over and over. Though her futile little punches were doing nothing to him at all. Johnny chuckled as he rode up a hill.

"Where are we going?" she looked around.

"You'll see," he retorted.

"You know, sometimes you really get on my nerv-."

Natasha was bordering falling off and sitting. One single hand was keeping her from getting into a nasty accident. Johnny had somehow noticed and managed to grab onto her just in time before she lost balance, all this while still pedaling the bike.

"Thanks," she whispered.

"You know Natasha, it's okay to wrap your hands around me," he told her.

"Yeah? I'm sure you'd like that," she rolled her eyes.

"Oh, I'm sure I'd like it too," he grinned. "But I don't want you falling off and getting yourself killed or something, got it?"

Natasha grudgingly wrapped her arms around Johnny and she immediately felt her cheeks heat up. It didn't help that pedestrians were staring at them too as they cycled past. This was exactly what she thought it would be – embarrassing.

Finally after what felt like forever, the bike finally stopped. Natasha hopped off and looked around. This was all too familiar. A year ago, Juri brought her here on their first date, he thought he'd have his way with her just because they were at the Lookout, but he was dead wrong and ended up with a bloody nose. Serves him right.

"Um…" she looked over to Johnny. "Any particular reason why you've brought me here?"

"It's relaxing," he shrugged, reaching into his jacket. "Smoke?"

"I don't smoke," she reminded him.

"Have you even tried it before?" he smirked.

"Of coarse I have!' she defended. "I just didn't like it, that's all."

"Sounds like a lie," he sighed, lying back onto the grass.

"It's not," she nudged him a little.

"Don't do that," he protested, nudging her back.

"Make me," she rocked into him again.

"Yeah? I will!"

Johnny used his free arm and held it over her back, before she knew it she pushed forward and slammed onto his chest.

"Ow," she whined, attempting to pull herself off him. "Let me go..."

"Just stay still for once," he grunted, keeping her pinned onto his chest.

"… Alright, but can I lay down next to you?"

He seemed to agree as he released her. Natasha scooted over onto the grass next to him and laid back. She didn't know what to say or do at a time like this. Thankfully Johnny spoke first.

"So, why you out at this time on a Sunday?" he inquired.

"I had things I needed to do with my brother," she smiled.

"Something good, I'm guessing?"

"It went better than I expected," she shrugged. "You know, if I knew you were going to drag me to the Lookout, I would at least brought a book."

"You would rather read a book than talk to me?" he scoffed.

"Well you can try to entertain me," she challenged with a gleeful smile.

"Are you challenging me, little miss cheerleader?" he grinned.

"If you start with the names again, I'll go back to calling you greaseball," she shot back, and he laughed in return. "And don't worry, I was just teasing."

"Mmm…" he hummed, taking her hand in his. "… You've got such tiny hands."

"You just have large ones," she smiled. "And you sound high."

"I don't," he insisted with a sigh. "It's just been a long time I dated a nice girl, you know? Things were never as calm with Lola."

"Who said we were dating?" she glanced over at him.

"Aren't we?" he looked to her. "You said so, a couple of days ago."

"… Oh right," she leaned closer to him. "… But can we not do the labels? The whole girlfriend-boyfriend thing."

"If you got good reason," he replied slowly.

"… Just trust me?" she squeezed his hand. "I don't want any trouble with the other cliques."

"But you're still my girl, right?" he grinned.

"Of course," she chuckled.

Johnny lifted his head off the ground and planted a chaste kiss on her lips. Natasha returned the kiss as she felt herself getting hotter and hotter. Johnny wrapped his arm around her tightly and pulled her on top of him. Unable to pull away just yet, she leaned up against him, and reached out for his hair.

"Ew…" she pulled her fingers out of his stiff hair.

"Come on now," Johnny chuckled back. "A good looking guy like me needs some help here and there."

"I got nothing against looking good, but what you're doing here is making me see but not being able to touch," Natasha sat up. "What if I were to flounce my bare chest out and said you can't touch them?"

"Ain't nothing going to keep me from my hair gel," Johnny grinned. "Though I wouldn't mind seeing your chest, don't worry, I won't touch."

Natasha rolled her eyes as she leaned back forward. Though slightly disappointed he wasn't going to see any skin from Natasha, Johnny happily pulled her back down into a kiss.

"_Are you sure about this?"_

"_It's Sunday night, no one will be here…"_

"_Look Ted, I don't know what kind of slutty girl your ex was, but I won't just let you- Oh my god!"_

The voices appeared above the two, and Natasha immediately pulled away and sat up. Johnny looked back and though upside down, he could clearly make out Mandy Wiles and Ted Thompson standing over them.

"Great…" Johnny groaned, rubbing his face. "You two make a habit of peeking at others?"

"I knew it!" Mandy exclaimed, her shrill voice echoing through the empty lookout. "I knew there was something going on between you two!"

"Shut the hell up," Johnny pulled Natasha off his waist gently and stood up. "Why don't you two piss off?"

"How- how dare you talk to me like that!" Mandy gasped. "Ted, are you going to let him speak to me like that?"

The whole time Mandy was yelling, Ted and Natasha had been staring at each other wordlessly. There was a mutual feeling of awkward tension, but neither knew what to do at a situation such as this.

"Ted?" Mandy repeated.

"Huh?" he finally turned his attention to her.

"What is wrong with you?" she demanded, looking back and forth between her boyfriend and his ex. "Natasha! You keep your slutty hands off him, got it?"

"Oh don't worry about a thing, Mandy," Natasha finally spoke up. "I have no plans to bother your boyfriend. But how does it feel to know that my slutty hands have been all over him? Everywhere."

Everyone stood speechlessly at that moment. No one could believe the words that just came from Natasha. Mandy was first to recover, she screamed as she charged towards Natasha, knocking her over completely.

"You little whore!" Mandy yanked at Natasha's hair. "Juri, Ted, Bif and now Johnny freaking Vincent? Is there anyone you haven't slept with?"

Natasha struggled under Mandy's weight, and was unable to do anything as she received the assault both verbally and physically.

"Hey bitch, get the hell off my girlfriend," Johnny pulled the girls apart.

"Don't touch me," Mandy slapped Johnny's hand away. "Your _girlfriend_ is a whore! And I thought you'd learn after the first one."

"Okay, that's enough," Ted placed a hand on her shoulder. "Let's just go."

"What? Don't you start with me-."

"Mandy, I've punched you once and I'm not afraid to hit you again," Natasha stood uneasily. "Or you can leave now and I won't breathe a word to anyone about this. It'd be a pity if your reputation pummeled after people found out you were in a fight with the psychotic ex-cheerleader. And when it's only a month away from the dance? It'd be a real shame if you lost your place as a candidate for the prom queen. Then who'll be Ted's queen? Pinky?"

Johnny smiled quietly behind Natasha as Mandy gritted her teeth. No matter how much she hated Natasha at the moment, she was right.

"Whatever," Mandy huffed. "You better not tell anyone!"

"You have my word," Natasha nodded.

Mandy turned on her heels and walked towards the road, Ted gave the two one last look before following after his girlfriend.

Once the two were out of view, Natasha let out the breath she had held in. She sat back down on the grass and steadied her breathing. Johnny joined her on the ground, pulling her close to him.

"Way to go," he whispered. "Didn't think you had it in you."

"Ha," Natasha coughed. "You'd be surprised, Mr. Vincent."

"You all right?" he rubbed her shoulder. "You don't sound too good. Does your head hurt or something?"

"Nah," she shook her head. "It's just been a while since I yelled like that," she smiled. "Nothing to get worried over."

"Do you want to go back to the dorms?"

"Yeah," she slowly stood up. "But Johnny?"

"Hm?"

"I guess there's no point in keeping our relationship a secret now," she pecked his cheek. "I probably should have asked Mandy to keep her big mouth shut about us… I'm sure she'll happily spread the word about our relationship while keeping quiet about how she found out."

"You worry too much," Johnny chuckled. "Let her tell."

"I'm more worried about you than me," she scoffed. "Both the jocks and Bif won't be a big fan of you now."

"Well screw them," Johnny said. "They've never slowed me down before."

* * *

Arriving back at the girls' dorms, she made her way slowly to her bedroom. Ignoring the stares and whispers. Tough it was surprising that many of the girls were gathered around downstairs.

Sure she expected her to spread the story around, but Mandy couldn't have possibly called them together just to tell them right? That was just beyond ridiculous. Or maybe not, well not for Mandy at least.

"Hey! Wait up!"

Natasha turned back and grimaced slightly at the sight of Beatrice Trudeu chasing after her.

"What is it?"

Beatrice and Natasha weren't exactly on the best terms. Before quitting the cheerleading squad, Mandy found a lot of fun in bullying the girl. Seeing as Mandy and Natasha were best friends then, Natasha let Mandy have her ways with disallowing Beatrice on the cheerleading squad, and bullying the girl out of her homework. In short Beatrice had taken a dislike to the redhead too.

"Is it true you're dating that bad boy Johnny Vincent?" she gushed.

"What?" she stopped. "Did Mandy call you all down there just to say that?"

"Yes, well that and to say goodbye to Kaitlyn."

"Who?"

Natasha was still trying to process that first part. Mandy actually had the nerve to announce to everyone about her and Johnny.

"Kaitlyn, she's leaving tomorrow," Beatrice informed her. "She's in the room a few down from yours."

"Oh… where is she going?"

"To art school," Beatrice replied.

"Right," Natasha nodded back, slowly losing her interest on the topic.

Natasha carried on walking down the corridor towards her bedroom.

"Wait Natasha!" Beatrice called.

"What?" Natasha did her best not to sound too rude.

"I just thought you should know Johnny did something really bad a while-."

"Look Beatrice," Natasha sighed. "I appreciate you trying to look out for me and everything, but I don't need your help. I'm sure you have other things to worry about – like that bio test that's coming up."

"Oh you're absolutely right!" Beatrice exclaimed. "I still have to go over the notes for that!"

With that, Beatrice ran back down to her room. Natasha grumbled under her breath as she walked into her room. She quickly got changed into her pajamas and pulled Mr. Snuggles onto the bed with her.

"Oh, Mr. Snuggles…" she hugged the bear tightly. "Why did Mandy turn into a bitch and try to ruin my life?"

**XoXo**

Later that night, Natasha stumbled out of bed feeling really thirsty. She'd eaten her chips shortly after ranting about her problems to Mr. Snuggles. Now she was in dire need of a drink, a nice beam cola perhaps.

Natasha yawned as she opened the door and headed out the corridor. Through her blurry eyes and the dark hall, she thought she saw something up ahead. A shadow.

'_What in the world?'_

Rubbing her eyes furiously, Natasha tried to convince herself it was nothing. Looking back up again, there was definitely a figure up ahead. She couldn't see well without her glasses, and especially under such dark surroundings.

All the ghost stories rushed back to her. A year ago, Ted and the guys had tried to scare her and Mandy by telling them a girl killed herself in the dorms and now she haunts the place. Back then it sounded silly and ridiculous, but now seeing a dark shadow looming ahead, she wasn't so sure if it was just a lie to tease them.

Suddenly she wasn't so thirsty anymore.

The ghost seemed to have heard her walking, and immediately stopped. It- She- He? He turned around to face her. Natasha took another few brave steps forward for a better look and saw that he wore a cowboy hat and was shirtless.

'_Okay, what?'_

A cowboy ghost?

Was he even a ghost?

Natasha's eyes trailed down and saw a massive scar running down his abdomen.

Okay, definitely a ghost.

No normal boy can live after receiving such a gash.

Natasha was about to turn and run, but he moved first. He tipped his hat her way and ran the other way, down the hall.

Clutching onto her chest, Natasha breathed hard. Never has she been so scared before, right now all she wanted was to get back into her bed and hold onto Mr. Snuggles for her dear life.

Turning around, she walked straight into someone.

"AH!"

Natasha screamed as she stumbled back, and landed on the floor rather ungracefully.

"Miss Evans!"

"Oh! Ms. Peabody! Am I glad to see you!" Natasha scrambled onto her feet quickly. "There was a ghost! A cowboy ghost! He disappeared right before you got here! I was so scared he'd kill-."

"Miss Evans, if you were going to make up lies you should have thought of better ones," Ms. Peabody was obviously not impressed with her. "Get back in your room before you wake the other girls!"

"But he was there!" Natasha insisted. "I swear it!"

"Get back to your room," Ms. Peabody said through her gritted teeth. "Immediately."

Natasha knew there was no point in trying to convince the lady, it looks like she has already set her mind to not believing her.

Walking back into the safety of her bedroom, Natasha turned the lamp on her desk on. No ghost was going to come after her tonight. Not with her night-light and trusty Mr. Snuggles on her side.

"Hit me with your worst, you dumb cowboy ghost."

* * *

**Hey guys! So Kaitlyn and the mysterious cowboy ghost are from **Gabriel12345's** story 'Bullworthless Boy'.**

**/s/7587418/1/Bullworthless_Boy**

**Right now, it's a two part story and it's really exciting! A different take of Bullworth in a boy OC's perspective, it's a real good read, check it out if you can! And Cowboy Ghost Boy will be making more appearances throughout this story! :D**

**Thanks to those who favorited and alerted!**

**Reviews:**

forgetmenotflowers – Haha yeah! She has matured a lot! :D Thank you for the review!


	7. Teddy Bear

**Bully**

_**Look Alive, Sunshine**_

_**Chapter Seven: Teddy Bear**_

* * *

"You know, if all it took was a good girlfriend for you to start coming to class, then I'd have tried to set you two up sooner."

Ms. Phillips had said when she realized Johnny Vincent has shown up to class a second time in a row, which was by all means very impressive for Johnny. Natasha looked down, slightly embarrassed by all the attention they were receiving from the class.

Natasha and Johnny were sat beside each other at the far back of the room. Neither one of them realized the amount of whispering that had been going on about them. Sure, it was an odd match-up, but it wasn't as if they were doing anything out of the ordinary in class. All they've done is paint, and maybe Johnny might have kicked an easel over accidentally but that was the extent to their 'strange behaviour'.

"God, seriously, you'd think they'd get tired of staring!"

Natasha huffed as she walked out of the classroom with Johnny. He didn't seem to feel that same annoyance that she felt over the fuss everyone was causing – in fact he seemed to enjoy it.

"I don't know," Johnny said. "It doesn't bother me that much."

Natasha sighed as she gave a small shake of her head.

"But it is nice that you're coming in more," she smiled. "Even if you did manage to knock down everything within a two metres radius."

"Man, that was just an accident," Johnny groaned. "Anyways, I gotta go check up on some things at the shop. You go on ahead, I'll see you in the cafeteria later."

"Don't take too long, yeah?" she reached up on her tiptoes and placed a light kiss on his cheek. "We wouldn't want some scary creeper coming after me."

"Just the cheek?" he grinned.

"Oh yeah," she teased. "Just the cheek. Hurry on back and you might get a little more."

"Got cha."

Johnny jogged ahead towards the door as they neared the cafeteria. Natasha watched him go with a small smile, and then turned into the rowdy cafeteria. It's been a while since she's been in the cafeteria, and it was as she remembered it. Each clique having their own table, all except the greasers were here.

Natasha grabbed a tray of food and took her seat on the empty greaser's table. It didn't look as if she would have any problems from anyone else, it wasn't as if they'd ask Johnny's girlfriend to leave the greasers' table.

Deciding she'd wait for Johnny, she reached into her big and slowly managed to fish out her book. The cafeteria wasn't the ideal place to read but what else was she to do? Sit alone doing nothing?

"_Johnny's new girl."_

At the sound of those words, Natasha looked up slightly towards the voice. It was Bif, well Bif and his group of friends. Bif was smiling at her, but Natasha kept her eyes on the boy in the middle. The boy whom she recognized as the mysterious cowboy ghost from a few nights ago. The boys whispered amongst themselves quietly, Natasha wasn't able to catch a word they were saying but they were eyeing her strangely.

With a civil smile, Natasha looked back down at her open book.

In less than a minute's time, the seat in front of her was occupied.

"Aiden Kane."

Natasha looked up, feeling rather alarmed with the whole ordeal. The cowboy ghost just grinned back as if they've known each other all along. But his name did sound familiar to her, she had definitely heard the name floating around the girls' dorm before.

"… Um, Natasha Evans."

"What are you reading?" he inched forward, attempting to take a peek of her book.

She pulled the book away from the table, and shoved it back into her backpack. It wasn't as if he was bothering her, but she was just feeling uneasy after the whole ghost thing.

"Hey, Aiden? Weren't you that guy-."

"Yes."

"You didn't even know what I was going to say," she frowned slightly.

"If you've heard about it, I've probably done it," he shrugged her comment off. "The City Hall murderer? The Jeep Boy, maybe?"

Natasha had no clue what he was talking about. Sure, she's heard his name before, but she never paid enough attention to find out what he's done.

"I was actually going to say the cowboy sneaking out of the girls' dorm a few nights ago."

Aiden smiled, having recognizing her from that night. His grin was different to how others would normally behave around a stranger. It took no genius to tell that he was cocky; it was shown by the way he carried himself, the way he spoke and walked even. But was he actually proud over sneaking about in the girl's dormitory that night? He didn't say much more after, and Natasha took that as her queue to start speaking.

"Wow," she hummed. "Aren't you lacking self-respect?"

"In my books, you've got to respect yourself a lot to walk around showing off what so few processes."

"It wasn't that spectacular," Natasha dipped her head slightly forward.

"Well, you wouldn't think so would you? I mean you're used to the athletics types. I mean I'm not like Bif or Teddy Bear over there," Aiden gestured towards the jocks' tables as he spoke. Natasha's eyes followed his gaze towards the jocks and saw Ted look up from his tray. "But I bet you couldn't take your eyes off my-."

"Scar?"

Natasha glanced back to him before he could finish his sentence.

It wasn't like her to interrupt, but this guy was really beginning to get on her nerves. She didn't like the tone or the smirk he had on as he spoke to her. It was almost sounded as if he thought himself above everyone else.

"Not really where I was going…" Aiden murmured back.

That hit a nerve. It was obvious by his tone of voice.

"What scar?" he eyed her.

"The one on your stomach?"

He seemed to contemplate on something, as he stayed quiet for the next few moments. Natasha realized it must have been a sensitive topic; she would have _almost _felt bad for having brought it up if he didn't' flash her such a smirk.

"So, I heard through the grape vine that you are associated with Jonina Vincent?" he grinned.

This caught Natasha off guard. So the whole purpose of coming over to speak to her was just because of Johnny? The use of such a silly nickname almost made her smile, but she was more concerned by the way he addressed him.

"Do you have a problem with him?" she asked.

"It's complicated," he bit his lip. "We pretend to dislike each other, but it's really to cover up the truth of who we really are. If our enemies find out that me and Johnny are vigilante crime fighters who protect the people of Bullworth from the dark forces of corruption, we'll be so screwed!"

Natasha wasn't sure of what to make of his little tale, but she wasn't convinced by a word he spoke. For starters, she has never heard Johnny breathe a word of his name. Two, what he's saying just seemed a little too… strange.

"Okay, so you don't like him," she concluded. "You didn't have to make up some story."

"No, seriously," he insisted. He seemed to notice her get distracted over something behind him, so he too turned around. "Ah! Here comes my partner now!"

Aiden got to his feet and put an arm over Johnny's neck as he reached the table. Whatever relationship they had, it looked entirely one-sided from Aiden.

"Reclusive bad boy, Joni Mitchell!" Aiden called out loud. "Now, would you please tell the lovely Natasha that we really are the dynamic duo?"

"Very funny," he then turned to her. "What's he doing here?"

"I don't-."

"Come on dear John!" Aiden spoke again. "I was just entrusting Natasha here with our secret occupations. Now what do you say I give you that hug you were denied so many times as a child?"

Natasha winced as Johnny shook off Aiden's arm and shoved him to the table behind. Aiden landed on top of Algie whose face had slammed down in his food. It started off as a little quarrel, but before she knew it the preps and the greasers have broke out into a fight. She hadn't even noticed when Ricky, Peanut, Chad or Bif intervened, but all were now present beating each other.

Having grown up with two brothers, Natasha had little patience for boys and their fights.

"Johnny, that's enough-."

Before she could say anymore, Aiden grabbed her tray of food and sent it flying in Johnny's direction. The tray on Johnny's head, and bits and pieces of food stained his head.

"Aiden!" a loud voice roared.

Nortan ran in from practically nowhere and knocked Aiden off his feet completely. The smaller boy was thrown onto his back and the moment he was down, Johnny was all over him landing punches here and there.

"Hey! Johnny, stop it!" Natasha stood on her feet. "Johnny!"

Her words weren't reaching him at all as he continued with his beating. Natasha was about to run over to break the fight up, but her efforts weren't needed when a group of prefects ran into the cafeteria.

Aiden had managed to free himself from Norton's grasp, but it looked like those hits has really gotten to him as he stumbled onto his feet. Even in his state, he seemed determined to fight the two greasers, but the prefects quickly broke up the fight. The prefects grabbed both Aiden and Johnny, who they have singled out as the ringleaders of the fight. The two were pulled out of the cafeteria rather ungracefully.

"Well that was something."

Natasha looked over and found Ted stood next to her.

"Yeah," she sighed. "What a mess."

"You friends with Aiden Kane?"

"No," she tilted her head to a side. "He seems awful popular around here. Just what has he done for everyone to know his name?"

"Nothing good," he told her. "I'd stay away from him."

"Right, because what you say is always what's best," she mocked. "I should go."

"Wait!"

"What?" she looked over her shoulder.

"Can we meet up later today?" he asked. "I just want to catch up… please?"

"I don't fancy getting yelled by your girlfriend again," she crossed her arms. "I don't know."

"Mandy won't know a thing," he said. "I promise."

"Fine," she eventually agreed. "I'll see you at the gym after class."

"Alright," he smiled.

The day just keeps getting stranger and stranger. First meeting this Aiden Kane fellow and now this business with her ex-boyfriend. She decided she'd better catch up with Johnny and the prefects before they see Crabblesnitch. If possible, she'd like to speak to the principal in Johnny's defense. It wasn't as if he was entirely innocent, but he was provoked.

Nearing the office, he saw Johnny standing in the foyer under a prefect's unmoving gaze.

"Hey," Natasha huffed. "Way to make an entrance, huh?"

"I'm sorry," he sighed. "I didn't mean to let it get so out of hand. The guy just pisses me off, you know?"

"And what exactly is your relationship with Aiden?" she asked. "He made it sound like you were friends of some sort… but that's obviously not the case."

"Don't listen to a word he says," Johnny told her. "He may not look it, but he's textbook preppy rich boy with a shit attitude."

Miss Danvers shot them a look and opened her mouth to speak. Thankfully a phone call spared them the lecture on cursing. She gave the two a frown but picked up the receiver without a word.

"So what's that stuff about you being a dynamic duo and fighting crime?"

"Hell if I know," Johnny frowned. "We talked a bit before, maybe he took it more seriously than I did."

"Right," she sighed, realizing that there really wasn't much she knew about him. "What's up now? Waiting for your turn with Crabblesnitch?"

"Yeah," he looked to the door. "The man may actually hate him more than Hopkins. Now that's impressive."

"I can never understand you boys," she shook her head.

"Embrace it, babe," he smiled, reaching a hand for her cheek. "You're awful pink; were you worried about me?"

"You know I was worried about you," she rolled her eyes. "Glad to see that you got that mystery lunch out of your lovely hair."

"I love you, babe, but don't push it."

"I hope as your girlfriend, I am exempt from your beating up."

"Very funny, Natasha…"

From behind them, the door clicked open and Aiden strolled out. He made his way over to the two and threw an arm around Johnny's neck; quite like how all this all started.

"Hey Johnny B Goode," he played a grin. "Crabs wants to see you, and I don't mean Lola's."

Johnny pushed the boy off before murmuring a quiet goodbye to Natasha. Only when he was gone, did Aiden take a notice of the redhead.

"Oh hey, Natasha," he grinned. "Checking up on me after that little scrap?"

"Please," she crossed her arms. "Don't flatter yourself."

"Why, do you want to do it for me?" his grin grew broader. "And are we using a euphemism?"

Aiden leaned forward close to her, with their noses barely apart. The proximity made Natasha extremely uncomfortable. Grimacing on her toes, she turned towards the staircase without another look at him.

"So, how've you been?"

"You mean since you broke into the girls' dormitory and beat up my boyfriend?" Natasha hoped he would just leave her alone. "Smashing."

"_That's_ your boyfriend? Really?" he laughed openly. "Why is it that every girl I encounter with a book seem to have really bad tastes in boyfriends?"

He seemed to be speaking more to himself than her. But his ignorance was putting her on the edge. Stopping halfway down the stairs, she turned to look up at him.

"And what exactly is wrong with Johnny?"

"Well, first off, have you seen the amount of grease he has in his hair? It's obscene…"

That was a very weak first argument.

"So a pretty rich boy has problems with people with product in their hair?" she snapped back.

"So, you think I'm pretty?" he grinned.

This was getting nowhere. Natasha frowned as she turned away and made her way down the stairs and towards the double doors. It was such a hassle speaking with Aiden. They had just met, and already Natasha was growing tired of speaking to him. Whenever she asked something, he'd always say something to avoid direct questions.

Realizing that Aiden was still close behind her, she turned to look at him.

"Look-."

"What's more is that I know for a fact that he's not the most… accepting person around."

"Right," Natasha chuckled dryly. "Coming from the person that was just mocking him over the product he uses in his hair!"

"Grease."

"Oh, what would you know?" she raised her voice a little. "You don't know him!"

They were stood at the crossway paths between the dormitories. Just as Natasha was about to turn onto the pathway that led to the girls' dormitories, Aiden stepped in her way.

"Oh, I do know him," he told her. "I really do – I mean, I know him even better than you do."

"And how is that?"

"Crime fighting duo, remember?" he shrugged.

"Yeah? And what would you know about duos?" she hissed.

"Claws out today, huh?" he looked amused.

Natasha gave him one last look before pushing past him and headed towards the dorms. On her way, she walked by a group of girls who eyed her beadily as she passed.

"Hey at least we got to talk this time!" it was Aiden calling behind her. Once again she found herself looking over her shoulder. "Not as good as having me half-naked though, right?"

The girls (who had heard the whole thing) immediately let out gasps and exchanged low whispers. Natasha watched the girls with wide eyes then turned to give Aiden a deadly glare.

With that, there were sure to be new rumors by the end of the day.

Without looking back again, Natasha trudged to the dorms.

**XoXo**

At the end of the school day, Natasha made her way to the gym. Luckily for her, she was spared having to explain her situation to Johnny as he had decided to skip on chemistry.

As she pushed the gym doors opened and entered, she noticed that the place was cleared out. Normally during after schools, various teams would be in the gym practicing.

"Over here, Natasha!"

Looking to her left, she saw Ted standing up from the bleachers.

"Did you ask everyone to leave or something?" she glanced around.

"Uh- kind of," he nodded. "I didn't want interruptions and I know you wouldn't want people to start talking."

"Right," she said. "I thought you'd be more concerned over Mandy finding out."

"… I broke up with Mandy," he told her. "I didn't like the things she said to you that night."

Natasha suddenly felt a lot more at ease with Ted. He certainly wasn't her Teddy Bear anymore, but at least he wasn't dating her bitchy psycho ex-best friend.

"Yeah? Me neither," she looked to him. "Let's sit, my legs are killing me."

"Alright, yeah," he smiled.

SOMETHINGSOMETHING THEY MOVE TO SIT

"So you're with the greasers now, huh?"

"Not really," she smiled slightly. "Just Johnny… but I guess that does make me automatically queen of the greasers, huh?"

"Can't forget Lola."

"Of course, there's always Lola," she nodded.

"I don't understand why you don't just come back to us," he said.

"Because of Mandy?" she reminded him. "She's pretty much taken everything – from my squad, my friends and my place. But it's all right… I think I have a new home now."

"You shouldn't worry about that stuff. I know it's been difficult for you these past months with your parents' death and Matt gone, I've spoke to Ben about it," he held her hand. "If you want to come back anytime, you just tell me okay?"

"That's awful sweet of you, Ted," she smiled. "Thank you."

"… Nat?"

"Hm?"

"I want you back."

Natasha froze immediately and turned to look at him steadily. With her hand still in his, she felt exceedingly confused and startled.

"W-What?"

"I want you back, Nat," he repeated. "Please. I'm sorry for what happened."

"I- No, I can't Ted," she pulled her hand back. "I'm happy with Johnny now."

"Are you really going to throw away those years with me for a greaser?" Ted frowned. "Do you really think Matt would approve? Do you think your parents would have approved?"

"Don't bring them into this," Natasha stood up. "Don't guilt me into this, Ted. You wouldn't have known what they'd think of Johnny. He's a good person; you just don't know him."

"I know enough," Ted grasped her wrist. "Come back to me."

Ted pulled her close, and held an arm around her waist.

"Let me go," she growled into his ear. "I swear, Ted. If you keep this up, you're going to find yourself put in a very bad position. Johnny will be after you. My brother will be after you. Heck, maybe Bif would come after you too. I don't want that and _you _wouldn't want that, so just let me go."

"… Nat, please?"

"I said no," she tried to pry his fingers off her wrist. "You weren't there for me when I truly needed you, so saying you want me back now is really not fucking enough."

Natasha managed to pull her hand free from him finally and stomped down the bleachers. She didn't look back once, nor did she hear him come after her. Either way, she knows she wouldn't have to keep up her tough act for very long anymore as she felt tears in her eyes.

Heading out of the gym, Natasha kept her eyes on the ground as she walked by the other students. The last thing she wanted were others to see her crying. It's been successful so far… until she bumped into someone, who in return grabbed her shoulders.

"I'm sorry," she peeked up and through her red hair. "I didn't- Johnny?"

"What happened to you?" he murmured. "Who made you cry?"

"… It's nothing," she shook her head. "I'm fine, so let's just go."

Johnny's hands squeezed on her shoulders harder as he looked up and glanced around. His eyes narrowed down onto something, and Natasha knew he must have spotted Ted.

"Was it Thompson?" he growled.

"… No-."

"It was, wasn't it?"

He dropped his hands and pushed past Natasha towards the gym. Natasha watched him go with a frown, knowing that this won't end well. Realizing that she could do something before a fight happened, she ran ahead and held onto Johnny's arm.

"Just forget about it," she said. "Please? I'm really fine, no harm done."

"How can you say that?" he hissed. "What kind of boyfriend would I be if I let a guy go after making my girlfriend cry? I should-."

"Just stop it, okay?" she raised her voice. "I don't like it when you fight. I don't like people getting hurt for no good reason, especially when it's about me. So please, let's just go."

Johnny glanced back at her, considering her words silently. It was the first time she's yelled at him since they got together, but it sure as hell's better than Lola with her constant whining.

He stopped struggling against her and turned to her.

"Alright, I won't fight," he told her. "But can you please tell me what's going on? With everything – Bif, Ted, Mandy, Happy Volts, your family."

"…" Natasha sighed. "Alright. I guess we'll start with Bif..."

* * *

**Chapter seven done! **

**So tons of stuff happened and it's just gonna keep getting even more and more dramatic next chapter xD**

**Once again Aiden Kane is Gabriel12345's OC from his story Bullworthless Boy!**

**Reviews:**

forgetmenotflowers – Thank you for reviewing as usual! :) hehe, I'm glad you enjoyed it! Sorry that I've been taking long with the chapters, but I hope you still enjoy them :D

Gabriel12345 – Hurhur, very funny :P Hope you liked this chapter! :D

Guest – Thank you! And will do! :D

Nicole77 – Thank you so much! :D

Donnie Happy - I'll do my best, thank you! :)

Greasergirl – I'm pretty slow with writing (and for this story especially), but I'll try to get them up as soon as I can. Thank you for reviewing! :D

Candygirlz – Thank you! :)


	8. Effect

**Bully**

_**Look Alive, Sunshine**_

_**Chapter Eight: Effect**_

* * *

It was inevitable.

Only a day after finding out about what really happened with Ted, Bif and Matt, Johnny's been treating Natasha like she was a fragile doll. Every time they were in conversation, he'd always think carefully about the things he's going to say before saying them. It was sweet at first, then it just got annoying – Johnny couldn't possibly offend her by asking about biology homework.

"So the weekend's coming up, got any plans?" Johnny asked as they exited their classroom.

"Study for that math quiz, which by the way you're going to be doing as well," she smiled at his reaction. "And then… hm… I might go see Matt again. They're planning to release him soon, you know?"

"Really? That's good news," he nodded. "You didn't tell me much about his current condition."

"Weak body, and maybe a little violent," she spoke slowly. "… Probably won't play football again."

"… Well, when he does come back he can always hang with me and my boys," he suggested. "That's if Thompson or whatever starts shunning him… or something."

"Aw, that's too cute, Johnny," she teased. "I'll tell him you said that."

"… He knows we're dating?"

"Ah… no, not yet," she frowned slightly. "Keeps slipping my mind when I see him. You know what, you should come with me next time. It's better than me sending your regards."

"I don't think that's such a good idea, doll."

"Why not?" she was a little taken back. "… Are you worried about rumors or something? Don't you want to meet-."

"No! It's not that at all," he suddenly reached for her hand. "I'm not scared of rumors and I do want to meet your brother… it's just… uh… Happy Volts, you know? I've had some bad dealings with the place in the past, I'd just prefer to avoid the place."

"Oh, that's right," she remembered him mentioning being taken there. "I'm sorry… I guess I'm still a little paranoid about things like this."

"Hey, don't sweat it," he pulled her into his arm as they walked. "I'm the one who is sorry here, once Matt gets out I'll definitely go see him, okay? Speaking of which, is he coming back to school right away?"

"Probably not," she sighed. "We've still got our parents' place up in Old Bullworth Vale… I think I might move back there while Matt's still recovering. Plus, it'd be a nice change from the girls' dorms."

"Your other brother?"

"I haven't spoken to him yet," she shrugged. "It'd be nice though, neither of us has gone back since the accident."

"You three gonna stay by yourselves?"

"Aren't you just full of questions this week?"

"Natasha… I'm just worried…"

"I know, and thanks for that," she smiled. "You know how we've been telling everyone that Matt's been staying at our aunt's in New York?"

"Yeah."

"Well, we were lying about Matt being there, but we do actually have an aunt living there," she explained. "She's meant to have custody over us, but she's pushed the responsibility onto the school and Happy Volts."

"Can she do that?"

"Hell, I don't know," she sighed. "The rich get away with just about anything."

"It's a shame too," he nodded. "Well, I'm pretty much on my own holed up in New Coventry as well, so I get what you mean."

"You wanna talk about it?"

"… The next time you get me shit-faced," he gave her a little grin. "Or maybe after a little… you know."

"You want me to bribe you with sex?"

"Damn, you see through me so easily," he laughed. "Come on, let's get lunch done with so you can drag me off to another class."

"You'll thank me in the future," she hummed.

"When I'm a mechanic and married to my beautiful redhead wife?"

"Slow down there, greaseball," she giggled. "I didn't realize you've thought so far ahead in your life goals already. Maybe I should start planning mine as well?"

"I hope you've got a certain handsome fellow in your plans."

"You mean Bif?" she gasped.

They laughed together as the entered the cafeteria. The place was as crowded as ever, if she weren't here with Johnny then she would have left the second she arrived. At the greasers' table, only Peanut sat waiting for them. He gave them a friendly wave as they walked over, his smile might have faltered slightly when he glanced by Natasha but she paid it no mind.

"I'll go get us something," Johnny stopped a few metres from the table. "You go on."

"Alright."

With Johnny gone from her side, she felt a little more vulnerable as she approached the table. She knew for a fact that Peanut won't cause trouble for her, but she was still nervous to go sit with someone that was practically a stranger.

"Good afternoon," she greeted.

"You too, Natasha," he smiled. "… So, how are you?"

"Um, good I guess, thanks," she nodded back. "Uh, you?"

"… Look Natasha, I'm gonna come clean, and don't tell the other guys I told you, alright?"

"Oh, uh- okay."

"You're probably the best thing that could have happened to Johnny, and as his friends we appreciate it," he said in a quieter voice. "We all hated that whore Lola, all she ever did was mess with Johnny but you're something else entirely, Natasha. You actually care about him, so yeah… we just really appreciate what you're doing for Johnny."

"Oh… I see," she was taken back. "… You're welcome, but I'm not actually doing much for Johnny. It was him that picked me up from where I fell. So I guess we're just what's best for each other right now. But wow, thanks for your thoughts. You guys are a pretty sweet bunch of guys, aren't you?"

"N-Not at all," Peanut stammered back. "And you didn't hear anything from me, got it?"

"Yes sir, understood," she grinned.

"Oh no, what's going on here?" Johnny returned with a tray. "What'd you say that's gotten Peanut all flustered up?"

"Nothing," she chuckled. "And you know, Johnny. You've got a lovely group of friends here, I'm a little jealous."

"Ain't she sweet?" he looked over to Peanut. "Told ya guys she's an absolute angel."

"… Don't mock me, Johnny," she eyed him squarely. "Not when I'm trying to be friendly."

Peanut watched the two on quietly; when the boys first heard that Johnny's gotten himself a new girl, they were ecstatic that Johnny's finally gotten over Lola. But then they found out she was none other than the ex-head cheerleader, no one was really sure what had happened with Natasha but she must have been bad news if she's dated Ted Thompson. But now, Peanut was fully reassured.

"Oh no," Peanut muttered.

As Natasha was going to look behind to check what's caused Peanut's comment, she met with Aiden Kane's face. He had a strange sort of smile on his handsome features. It was the same smile he had when he first approached her yesterday, the one which means he's up to no good.

"Hey there, T-Birds," he greeted the boys then turned to her with a wink. "Natasha."

'_Is he for real?' _she looked away from him with a roll of her eyes.

"What is it this time, Aiden?" Johnny leaned back to get a better view of him. "Going to try to hit me with a chair now?"

"Not public enough for my tastes," he shook his head as he picked up Johnny's can of Beam Cola like it was his own. He then began to wipe down the wet can with a napkin. "… Have I ever told you that you put an obscene amount of grease in your hair?"

"That's my soda."

"No kidding," he looked down at him. "I thought it was an Oscar for comedy, Johnny Vegas."

"You can't get an Oscar for comedy, dumbass."

Johnny snapped back, earning a snicker from Peanut. The hostility in their words was a little too much for Natasha. Their insults were far more creative than the ones that she's used to hearing from the jock boys. But of course almost anyone can do better than calling someone a 'nerd' or 'tard'.

"Hey, there's a first for everything," Aiden continued, he then pointed to Johnny's hair. "Bringing us back to the grease! Have you ever considered that new fad, showering?"

"Like all you pretty boys 'shower' over in Harrington House?" Peanut finally spoke, having enough of Aiden. "Just like what's-his-face."

"Hey, Dr. Denim, try shutting up every once in a while," Aiden barked. "All that grease, and the one thing it can't stick is their lips."

"Which ones?"

Bif walked up behind Aiden, also joining in with Peanut's interference. Natasha sent him a nasty look when Aiden laughed at his joke, her fiery look caused him to immediately take a step back. She was at a lost with everything they were saying, she might have been behind in the recent affairs around school but even if she were she shouldn't know much about what's been going between the preps and the greasers.

Breaking the heavy silence, Aiden put the can back down to where he picked it up.

"You should leave, Aiden," Johnny finally spoke, standing up to face him squarely. "Now."

Aiden seemed to contemplate his words for moment, he surveyed the area and saw that almost everyone had their eyes at their table. A large grin formed on his face as he took a step back.

"You only had to ask," he smiled as he leant towards Natasha. "And it was nice seeing you again."

"I wish I could say the same," she ignored his overfriendly attitude with her.

"… Spunky," he grinned after a moment of thought, and she grimaced at the nickname. "You, however Johnny… Look a little worried? Don't worry, I'm not going to explode just yet Johnny. I'm already having way too much fun."

Once again with the taunts that held a bigger backstory than she was let on to know. She looked between Johnny and Aiden, neither one of their faces gave away anything other than their dislike for each other. Aiden backed off first (but that smile was still ever-present), he walked back a few steps before turning away.

"Going to explode?" Peanut called after.

"You boys _take care_ of each other," Johnny watched them go, glad that he was finally out of the way.

"Oh, just like how Aiden took care of Lola – all night long!"

It was Bif that called that, but no one paid much attention to him, all eyes in the room darted to where Johnny stood.

"Bif, down!"

Aiden looked over the back of his shoulder, as if he was expecting a fight. Johnny's face was completely blank, but she heard his teeth gritting and noticed his jaw clenching. For a second, Natasha thought that Johnny was going to snap but instead muttered something inaudible and then sat down.

Applauding his efforts in her mind, Natasha sat back down beside him. He reached for his soda and bent the tab over. To everyone's surprise, the can started shaking and hissing uncontrollably in his hands, and began to spit out the pressurized liquid. Natasha couldn't help but yelp and jump away from the possessed can as its contents fizzed all over Johnny.

'_Oh god…'_

"Like I said," a voice called over. "I'm not the one who's exploding."

She looked over and frowned as Aiden exited the cafeteria with Chad and Bif. The look Johnny had on his face was murderous, like he was about to go on a rampage. And Natasha has seen Johnny angry before, and it's not pretty. Even Peanut was slowly backing away from the table.

Johnny crushed the can in his hand and threw it across the room.

"… Come, Johnny," she held his dripping shoulders. "Let's get you cleaned up."

He remained silent but he stood up as per her command.

"Peanut, would you go fetch some clean clothes for Johnny then come meet us at the girls' dormitories?" she glanced over at the boy, in which he nodded back quickly. "And maybe go get some um- hair product," she whispered with a sheepish smile. "I'm afraid I don't have any of the kind of stuff you boys like to use."

"Uh yeah, of course," he replied. "… Do I put the stuff in a bag and chuck it through your window or something?"

"Just come up," she shrugged. "Ms. Peabody doesn't hang around the dorms during the day. My room's to the right and the last one. I'll see you then, okay?"

"Got it."

Peanut headed off first, Natasha turned to Johnny once he was gone. He was still stood there in a daze, unaware of everyone watching him. It annoyed her, having all these people openly stare at Johnny in one of his worst moments.

"What are you looking at?" Natasha hissed at a nearby group of students. "Don't you have anything better to be doing?"

The crowd began dispersing as the clock ticked closer to class hours. Once the cafeteria was virtually empty apart from Edna hacking away in the kitchens, she turned to Johnny again.

"Hey, you all right?" she patted his cheek. "Johnny?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, not meaning to rush you but we gotta get you out of those wet clothes, yeah?"

"…"

"Okay, you oversized child, let's go."

They were quiet the whole time they walked out of the cafeteria and the school building. They were lucky enough to avoid bumping into any prefects on their way through the courtyards, but the moment they arrived at the girls' dormitory's doorstep a harsh voice called out to them.

"Hey you two! Where do you think you're going?"

Turning around she groaned a little when she saw who it was. Standing by the fence was Max MacTavish, amongst all the prefects he was the one that Natasha disliked in particular. He never gave her any trouble or anything; in fact he always let her off with curfews and misconduct but in return he liked to shower her with unwanted compliments and flirts. Especially when she was still head cheerleader, he wouldn't leave her alone until either one of her brothers or Ted came along.

"Oh, if it isn't Natasha," he grinned. "What's up? … Who's he?"

"Max meet Johnny, my boyfriend," she spoke quickly. "There was an accident and soda got spilled all over him, so I was just going to help him get cleaned up."

"Why can't he do it himself?"

"Johnny doesn't live on campus."

"Yeah well, we have showers in the gym."

"… Look Max, I'd love to stand around and give you excuses, but I'd really like to just go," she sighed. "Please? A favor?"

"Just this time, okay?" he glanced at Johnny momentarily. "I won't let you two off next time."

"Yes, thank you, Max," she smiled.

The prefect stepped back and watched them enter the dorms together. He speculated the chances they were going to have a quickie considering the dorms were vastly empty during the day, but he let it slip.

Inside, Natasha was helping Johnny out of his wet clothes. Like she had said, the dorms were void of all teachers and students so it was just the two of them in Natasha's bedroom.

"Who was that creep?"

"Don't you recognize a prefect when you see one?" she smiled as she folded the sticky leather jacket.

"Does he let everyone go like that?" he asked, pulling his ruined vest off.

"No, just me."

"You seem awful proud about that."

"… Don't start with me Johnny," she eyed him close as he took his shirt off. "I know you're angry but don't take it out on me."

Natasha has sat next to him (on the occasions when he showed up) in classes for more than a year, and she knew exactly how to handle Johnny Vincent. Be stern when the time calls for it, and don't let him get the better of you when he's upset.

"Look," she tossed a towel over. "Go get yourself washed up then come back here, okay? Peanut should be back with some clean clothes by then."

"Yeah, got it."

He kicked his shoes off, before leaving the room. With Johnny finally getting himself cleaned up, she felt a little more at ease. But the peace didn't last long; almost half a minute after Johnny stepped out, he returned looking a little pale.

"What's wrong now?"

"… There's something dying in there."

"What?" Natasha shot up. "What do you mean?"

"I'm hearing really gross gargling noises from one of the stalls," Johnny grimaced slightly. "Are you keeping a dying animal or something?"

"… Oh…"

A little scene from earlier this morning flashed in her mind, she vaguely remembers hearing the other girls saying that Mandy has been crying all night about her break up with Ted and refused to go to school today. Knowing Mandy's track record of bulimia, if anyone's being sick in a toilet stall right now, then it had to be her.

'_Right…'_

"I thought you said no one's here," Johnny said.

"Yeah, that's what I originally thought," she replied as she headed down the hall. "Okay, I'll sort this out."

Johnny followed Natasha into the showers, but kept a distance as she approached the stall where the noise was coming from. It was a little embarrassing hearing such displeasing noises, especially knowing that they're coming from Mandy, but nonetheless she tapped on the stall door.

"Hey, is that Mandy in there?"

"… O-Oh my god!" her hollow voice coughed out. "Is that you, Natasha?"

"Um, yeah…" she replied, glancing back at Johnny. "… You okay in there?"

"No!" she cried. "Leave me alone!"

"… Okay then, uh… I'm gonna take a shower, okay?"

Natasha signaled Johnny to go to the showers, and he did so quickly.

"So, what?" Mandy's voice turned condescending. "It's not like I needed to know or anything."

"Uh yeah… just informing you because I forgot to bring a change of clothes and I'll be walking around in a towel later."

"Oh, gross," she remarked. "I don't want to see your flabby arms."

"Yeah, okay…" Natasha looked down at her arms, wondering if they were indeed fat. "So just stay in there, okay?"

"Whatever, hurry it up has-been."

She quickly walked over to Johnny; he had stripped down to his boxers and was about to step into the showers.

"_Hey,"_ she mouthed quickly. _"Are my arms actually fat?"_

Johnny smiled slightly as he looked her over; he gave her a light shrug then stepped into the shower and pulling the curtains. She heard some shuffling from behind the curtain, before a hand holding onto his boxers stuck out from the side.

'_Classy.'_

She took the shorts and hung them by the towel. The tap twisted and the water started to run. It was a little nerve racking, knowing that if Mandy opened that stall door then she'd see that Natasha wasn't actually in the shower. The last thing she wanted was for her to see Johnny here with her.

The shower wasn't long, in less than three minutes did he twist the tap shut and reach out for the towel. Natasha passed it over to him, and in another minute was he out wearing the towel around his waist and hair a floppy dripping mess.

"_Come."_

After picking up his boxers and trousers, Johnny followed her out the showers and back to her bedroom. The moment the door shut behind her, Natasha let out a sigh.

"God, was that annoying," she rubbed her forehead. "Can you believe she called me fat?"

"Nope," Johnny replied, tossing the clothing in his hand to the dirty pile across the room. "But those noises she made were hella scary though. What was she doing?"

"Puking."

"Why?"

"… To get thin."

"Won't it be easier to just not eat?"

"… You should tell her that."

"Uh… no thanks."

"That's what I thought," she smiled. "… But anyway, your head feeling cooler now?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "Thanks for getting me out of there when you did."

"Mmm, it's okay," she patted on a chair. "Come sit, and let me dry your hair."

Johnny did as he was told; he walked over and sat down on the seat in front of her. She pulled out another clean towel from her closet and began drying his hair.

"… Hey Johnny?"

"Yeah?"

"What's the deal between you and Aiden?" she asked. "I know you don't want to talk about it but it's seems pretty serious… what happened between you two I mean."

"… It's nothing."

"Should I go ask Bif instead? I'm sure he'd be glad to speak to me no matter what the topic is."

"No! … No, don't do that."

"Then tell me."

"… Aiden moved here almost a year ago," he said slowly. "He got into some trouble with-."

"Hey, Natasha?"

It was Peanut's voice. Natasha left the towel where it was on Johnny's head and walked over to the door.

"Got the stuff?" she opened the door for him.

"Uh- yeah," he nodded. "I walked down the wrong way just now and I think there's a dying animal in your showers."

"Right, let's call it that," she chuckled. "Don't worry about it. Thanks Peanut."

"… Do I go now or-?"

"Peanut, you can head back first," Johnny spoke as he dried his hair. "I'll come by later."

"Oh, right, okay then."

Natasha said her goodbyes to Peanut as he headed out the door. The moment Peanut stepped out, an ear-piercing scream echoed down the hallway.

"… That doesn't sound good," Johnny mumbled, standing up and heading out the door. "Oi, shut the hell up!"

Natasha walked over to the doorway and peered off the side. Mandy was stood outside of her bedroom, in nothing short but her pajamas and wearing a gaping expression. It doesn't look like she's even acknowledges hers and Peanut's presence anymore; her eyes were glued on Johnny's chest.

"Just go," she whispered over to Peanut.

Peanut nodded quickly and rushed down the stairs.

"Hey Mandy, if you're done leering at my boyfriend, why don't you forget about what you just saw, turn around and go back in your room?"

"Is that anyway to ask for a favor?" Mandy snapped her attention to the redhead, sending her a glare. "I'm sure Crabblesnitch would be interested in hearing about someone sneaking two boys into the girls' dorms."

"And I'm sure he'd love to hear about the many times you snuck Ted in, skipped your classes like today and maybe about your little stash of beer…" Natasha retorted. "Don't try to get smart on me, Mandy."

Fortunately for Natasha, she also knew Mandy well and knew exactly how to handle the girl. The look Mandy gave was so venomous that she might as well have screamed her anger out.

"Are we done here?" Natasha asked. "Because I am. Let's go, Johnny."

Johnny gave Mandy one last look before heading back into Natasha's bedroom.

"I still have business with you!"

"Oh?" Natasha raised an eyebrow. "What kind of business?"

The couple turned around and looked to Mandy who had taken a step towards them. Johnny grumbled slightly before heading in, disregarding her earlier comment.

"You girls play nice, I'll be back."

The two girls watched Johnny shut the door behind then turned back to each other.

"What is it?"

"Ted dumped me because of you, isn't that right?"

"… Where'd you hear those lies from?"

"From him," she crossed her arms. "Don't lie to me, Natasha. I know!"

"You're delirious!" Natasha frowned. "Ted doesn't think things through, you know that! He came up to me yesterday and asked for a second chance, I told him no."

"Stop making up stories!" Mandy cried. "Ted told me you begged him to break up with me!"

"What's this about?" Johnny stepped out, now fully dressed. "What happened with Thompson?"

"Your girlfriend is a two-timing whore, that's what!" Mandy raised her voice. "Ted came up to me yesterday after lunch and broke things off with me! And when I asked why, all he said was he's made a mistake with Natasha!"

"Was that why you were crying?" Johnny turned to the redhead. "What did he say to you?"

"It's nothing!" Natasha frowned. "Mandy, do everyone a massive favour and shut that mouth of yours… please!"

"Or what? You'll hit me again?"

"If you don't shut up I might!"

Mandy cowered at Natasha's yells and took a few steps backwards before rushing off into her bedroom. Whether she believed Ted's words or not, Mandy had succeeded in stirring up trouble between Natasha and Johnny… at least for now.

Out in the hall, Natasha and Johnny stared at each other squarely for what seemed like hours. He had always liked her eyes, bright and piercing but he didn't like the way they seemed to glare straight through him when she was upset.

"What was she on about?" he spoke softly.

"It's really nothing," she narrowed her gaze further onto him. "Drop it."

"Maybe I should ask Thompson about it instead?" he walked past her towards the staircase. "Is that how we want to play this?"

"I-! Johnny, please don't," she held his arm, forcing him to turn back to her. "Please."

"What will have me do then?" he raised his voice. "I'm a guy, Natasha! I can only act this way! I hear that some guy's been causing my girlfriend problems; my first instinct is to go beat the shit out of him! It's how we work!"

"Look, I understand that!" she gripped his arm. "But have some trust in me! If I tell you nothing happened then nothing happened! I don't want you getting into a fight for nothing, so please, don't go."

"… Natasha, let go," he pulled from her. "I just want to speak to him. I promise I won't-."

"For me."

"Huh?"

"Don't go… for me."

**XoXo**

The boys were sprawled around the Tenements, all sipping onto a bottle of beer and listening to Peanut's story. Apparently they had all worried for nothing, and Johnny has never looked happier with Natasha.

"Man, I can see her lasting," Peanut spoke. "She's just great for Johnny."

"Can't believe there's someone that can actually handle him," Ricky sighed. "Maybe now we can stop bothering ourselves with seeing after Johnny."

At that moment, Johnny Vincent stormed through the door and went straight for the fridge and pulled out a beer. Everyone exchanged looks, and then turned to Peanut to demand for an explanation.

"No one touches Ted Thompson and his boys these next few days, got it?" Johnny said after taking a long swig from the bottle. "No one."

* * *

**Okay, that took a really long time but it's finally up! :D**

**Thanks for the support everyone!**

**Reviews:**

T-Araa: haha thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it!

Cookie: thank you! Hmm, I'm not so sure how much I'm going to get into Johnny's life, but I will add it somewhere along :)

NewFolder2: it sounds like a massive harem xD


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